The Sisterhood: Second Generation
by CandC1988
Summary: The girls pass the pants onto their daughters. The only thing is ... their daughters aren't best friends like they were. Can the pants bring these four girls together?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or any of its characters, however most of the ones appearing in this story will be ones I made up.

"_The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning."_

_-Ivy Baker Priest_

Prologue

It all started twenty-five years ago. When four girls formed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to celebrate a pair of jeans that would connect them through their first summer apart. The group shared laughs, love, and lessons through their first summer with the pants.

They spent the last two summers of their high school career with the pants as well, learning secrets, forgiveness, and how to have open hearts in that time. The next four years brought about college, with the school years apart, they still managed to work the pants in during the summer.

Sometime after that, however, they grew apart from the pants. They grew older, they had kids and the pants remained in the closet of one of the members, until once a year they would ship the jeans to another member.

It started for us, however, when we were sixteen. We weren't close, only knew each other through our moms and their special friendship. But, we had all, ironically, been born in June. We were the June's, our mom's were the September's. The beginning and the end of the summer.

The first week of June had brought Lainey, the daughter of Bridget. The girl was, as far as I could tell, exactly like her mom. She loved soccer, she was exuberant in life, and she had that same famous hair of her mothers. She put everything she had into everything she did. The best word to describe Lainey? Adventurous.

Next, had come Bailey, the daughter of Tibby. Bailey was more like her dad used to be. Didn't have many friends. She was skinny, pale, and had glasses. She liked to read and write and was pretty much the most intelligent person I had met that was my age.

The third week brought Sarah, Lena's daughter. Sarah was nothing like either of her parents. While both her parents were shy and reserved, Sarah took after her aunt. She was loud and had a great personality. The one thing Sarah had in common with Lena was looks. Sarah looked exactly like her mom. Same face, same build, same hair. The only difference was, Sarah had never been afraid to flaunt it like her mom had been.

The end of the month had brought me, Vanessa. I looked nothing much like either of my parents. And didn't really have either of their personalities either. I was a listener. In fact, I wrote the advice column for my school newspaper. I was down-to-earth and practical and just all-around didn't get overly emotional. Which, I had been told was nothing like my mom. I also had this dark brown hair and incredibly blue eyes that I had never seen on either of my parents side's before.

Anyways, the beginning had been 25 years ago, the beginning had been our moms, the beginning was now rebeginning with us.


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Or the characters. Or, even the pants. Even though it would be really cool if I could find a pair of pants all my friends could fit into.

"_Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think."  
__-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_

Chapter One

"I don't understand why we have to move," the others could hear the muffled complaints coming from Sarah, who was moving a big box up the attic stairs.

"Because our parents are best friends," Vanessa explained calmly to the girl, "they want to be near each other to help them each raise their children."

"But, I don't care what my parents want," Sarah said, heaving a box up the attic stairs. Vanessa and Lainey were right behind her with a couple of boxes of their own, while Bailey just sat at the edge of the stairs, by the wall, reading a book.

"That's pretty selfish of you," Vanessa said kindly.

"No, it's pretty selfish of them to make all of us uproot our lives to move to this stupid town that they grew up in," Lainey defended Sarah.

"Actually, it's not that bad," Bailey spoke up, "I mean, Lainey this place has a terrific soccer program at the school, look at what your mom was able to achieve, and Sarah you are always looking for new faces to meet, why not enjoy the challenge of making friends at this new place?"

The other three girls made their way down the attic stairs to each give Bailey an astonished look. That was the most that they had ever heard Bailey say in the times that they had been together (more like thrust together) to become better friends.

"Why, oh why, do our parents always stick us together?" Sarah said, dramatically, complaining about the next thing that came to her mind after the astonished silence Bailey's comments had caused.

"Duh, because we're all the same age, we were born in the same month, we're, like, exactly like our moms," Vanessa rolled her eyes, "they think we should become best friends because of it."

"Well, we're not," Lainey stubbornly said.

"Hey, what's in here?" Sarah asked quizzically, setting down the box she was about to take up the stairs. The other three peered at the box curiously labeled, "The Pants".

"Weird," Vanessa suggested, "Maybe your mom put it in here on accident for us to take up, Bailey's and Lainey's mom did that with a few of the boxes."

"No," Lainey spoke up, voicing what they were all thinking, "There's something different about this box."

"Let's open it," Sarah said, with a duh expression on her face. She ripped off the tape on the box and opened it to reveal, in fact, a pair of pants. She held up the pair of pants and they all noticed a bunch of writing on the pants.

" 'Bailey was here,'" Bailey said, fingering the area that said that.

"I don't think that meant you," Vanessa replied to her, "because none of the rest of us are on there and these were in Lena's stuff."

"No, it was my mom's friend Bailey, who died one summer when my mom was a teenager," Bailey answered, "I was named after her."

"Oh," Lainey said, breaking an awkward silence, "hey, you should try the pants on Sarah. I bet they'd look good on you if they belong to your mom."

"Sure," Sarah shrugged, happy to take a break from putting away boxes. She quickly stripped off her pants and pulled on the pants.

"Wow," Vanessa muttered, studying the girl in the pants. The pants hugged Sarah's waist and fit in all the right curves.

"You look awesome," Lainey muttered, "I want to try them on."

"You're a Jolly Green Giant," Sarah said, harsher than she meant for it to be, "if I fit into these pants, there's no way you will."

"Plus, you are a little heavier in the waist area," Vanessa pointed out, not sounding harsh at all.

"Just let her try them on," Bailey said, rolling her eyes, "I mean, who's it going to hurt?"

"Fine," Sarah said, taking off the pants and handing them to Lainey. Lainey quickly pulled them on, the others staring at her when she was finished.

"They look perfect," Sarah concluded as they watched Lainey twirl around in the pants. They rested perfectly on her hips and flared out a little in the bottom.

"No way," Lainey said, in awe, "Dude, Bailey, you have to try these pants on."

"No," Bailey argued, "I'm way too skinny to fit into those pants."

"Vanessa?" Lainey offered.

"I don't think so," Vanessa said hesitantly. She really wanted to see if the pants fit her, but two of the girls already fit into them and she didn't want to have a confrontation about who would actually get the pair of pants if she fit into them also.

"Come on," Sarah urged, "I don't think these pants just belong to my mom. I mean, obviously Tibs wrote on them."

"Yeah, actually, I've seen this box at our house before," Lainey also urged, "You got to try them on."

"Fine," Vanessa sighed. She quickly pulled on the pants.

"You are a picture of perfection," Lainey teased her. They hung from a little above her waist and made Vanessa's usually non-existent butt look pretty good.

"Come on, you have to try them now Bailey," Lainey pleaded, "it would be so cool if they fit all of us."

"It's very improbable that that will ever happen," Bailey protested.

"Well, duh," Vanessa rolled her eyes, "that's why we want you to try them on."

"You are SUCH a chicken," Sarah dramatically said, sitting on one of the boxes.

"Just give me the pants," Bailey said, through gritted teeth. She hated when people pulled that trick on her. She yanked the pants up and buttoned them. Turning around and looking at the other three girls she said, "See, I told you."

"Oh my," Lainey said, "You look AWESOME!"

* * *

Downstairs, on the first floor, Tibby, Bridget, Lena, and Carmen were taking a break from unpacking boxes by sprawling out on the couch and the floor to talk about a much needed discussion.

"So, do we give them the pants or not?" Bridget headed straight towards the discussion.

"I say no," Lena quietly responded, "they are not ready."

"But it would be perfect," Carmen protested, "the summer they turn sixteen, the summer we turned sixteen."

"They aren't even friends," Tibby argued.

"Maybe this could make them friends," Bridget responded, "We have to face that they are not us."

"If we wait for them to be friends," Carmen added in, "then we may never get to pass the pants on to them. But, if we giveit to themnow, they might be able to find friendship in the pants."

"MOM!" they all heard Sarah yell from upstairs, "come look at what I've found."

The four women jumped up and ran up the stairs, not knowing that their previous discussion was not needed, because their pair of pants had found their girls in their own time.

"What is it honey?" Lena said, breathlessly after running up the stairs.

"These pants," Sarah said, dramatically, "they fit us all. And make us look good."

"So, I take it now is the time for us to pass them on?" Carmen questioned quietly the other three original sisterhood members. The three nodded, wordlessly, staring at their daughters, who were looking at the pants in the same awe they had done twenty-five years ago.


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or any of its characters.

"_When humans participate in ceremony, they enter a sacred space. Everything outside of that space shrivels in importance. Time takes on a different dimension. Emotions flow more freely. The bodies of participants become filled with the energy of life, and this energy reaches out and blesses the creation around them. All is made new; everything becomes sacred."_

_-Sun Bear_

Chapter Two

"Hey sweetheart," Vanessa heard her mother say as she approached her. Vanessa turned around and smiled at her mom.  
"So, tell me about these pants mom," Vanessa urged.

"I thought you would never ask," Carmen blurted out, "I have been waiting all day to tell you just how great this pair of pants is."

She began to talk and start unraveling a story with many years behind it.

* * *

"Okay girls," Carmen said, ceremoniously as the eight girls gathered around their famous spot in Gilda's. The pants sat in the middle of their circle, with mother sitting by daughter, and the rules of the pants in Carmen's hands, "we are here this one time and this one time only to give you the pants, the rules of the pants, and how the pants should be used. At the end of this summer, and in any summer after you choose to wear these pants we will not be here. Understood?"

The four girls nodded, not one of them being able to speak for fear of laughing at their very serious mothers. It was the next night from the time the girls had found the pants had fit them all. Each mother had told their daughter about the Sisterhood that they were now being initiated into and what it had met to them personally. They had each been touched by their mother's trusting them to join in the group and were trying to be supportive of all the eccentric behavior of their mothers.

The following morning, Bailey was leaving for summer camp in Delaware for teenagers that were sixteen to nineteen. Later that afternoon, Lainey would be leaving to fly back to West Virginia to spend one last summer in the town she grew up in before starting a new life in Bethesda. Sarah and Vanessa would both be staying in town, Sarah to make new friends and Vanessa to just hang out.

"These pants will hopefully bring the four of you closer together," Tibby said, a serious look on her face, "we don't expect the four of you to become like sisters like we have, but the four of you being good friends would be nice. Since you are going to school together in the fall."

"Each girl gets the pants for a week before sending on to the next one," Bridget picked up, "and to change it up, you will pass them back the opposite way, so, we have decided that Lainey should get the pants first since she is going the furthest away. Followed by Bailey, then Sarah, and finally Vanessa. Now, like I said earlier, when you pass them back around it will go Vanessa, then Sarah, then Bailey and finally back to Lainey."

"At the end of the summer," Lena continued, "you will be back to document the pants as according to our rules. We, like Carmen said, however will not be here because this is a time for you guys to share what your summer has given you without needing to make it PG for your moms."

"This isn't going to require blood sacrifice or anything is it?" Sarah asked, uncomfortably.

The other three girls laughed before noticing there mothers weren't joining in, "This seriously isn't going to require blood sacrifice is it?"

"No," the four moms replied together, smiles on their faces.

The women then sat down the rules of pants for all to read:

Rules of the Sisterhood:  
1.You must never wash the pants.  
2. You must never double cuff the pants. It's tacky.  
3. You must never say the word "phat" while wearing the pants. You must also never think to yourself "I am fat" while wearing the pants.  
4. You must never let a boy take off the pants (although you may take them off yourself in his presence).  
5. You must not pick your nose while wearing the pants. You may, however, scratch casually at your nostril while really kind of picking.  
6. You must follow the procedures for documenting your time in the pants.  
7. You must write your sisters throughout the summer, no matter how much fun you are having without them.  
8. You may only possess the pants for the specified length of time before passing them on to one of your sisters. Failure to comply will result in a severe spanking upon our reunion.  
9. You must not wear the pants with a tucked-in shirt and belt. See rule #2.  
10. Remember: Pants love. Love your pals. Love yourself.

"Are you serious?" Bailey asked, amusement evident in her voice, "Where you guys on something when you wrote these rules?"

"I think she's more like you than we give her credit for," Bridget dryly told Tibby, who just laughed.

"So, wait, what happens if we decide that this whole sisterhood thing is a waste of our time and don't continue it past this summer?" Sarah questioned. While not really having major issues with the other daughters, they just didn't click and Sarah didn't really see how a pair of pants, albeit a pair of pants that fit all four girls amazingly well, was going to make that happen. Of course, they had already been magic enough for each girl to be complimented by the others in the pants.

"We send it to another thrift store," Carmen shrugged, "We decided when the foru of you were born that we would keep the pants for you guys, but if you guys don't want them, then we'll send them on to make their way somewhere else in the world."

"Do you really think a pair of pants can change our lives that much?" Lainey skeptically continued the questioning.

"Who knows," Tibby answered, "if you believe in the pants, believe in us, believe in your future, and hopefully eventually believe in each other, maybe they will."

"I'm in," Vanessa enthusiastically said.

"Yeah," Sarah said, less enthusiastically, "if it all doesn't work out, at least I'll get to wear an awesome pair of pants."

"We're not going to have to draw blood in this secret ceremony are we?" Bailey asked, fear evident in her voice. The laughter the adults met that with caused the girl to feel a tiny bit stupid for a second, before continuing, "I guess I'll do it."

"Hey, I get the pants first," Lainey recalled, "No way am I turning that down."

"Of course you wouldn't," Bridget teased her daughter, "we would like to welcome you all to the family. The family of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Note: I do not own the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I do, however, own my ideas and the original characters in my stories.

"_Why do you try to fit in...when you were born to stand out!"- What a Girl Wants_

Chapter Three

Bailey woke up at five-thirty the next morning. Well, if you could call it waking up, since she hadn't got much sleep. She couldn't wrap her mind around why in the world her parents were making her go to this summer camp. They said it was so she could make new friends, but she was starting over in a new town, so wouldn't that kind of be ideal for making new friends?

Maybe they thought she was depressed. Because she had no friends at all, and wasn't really looking for them. She didn't mind not having friends. She just liked to read and learn. Apparently, her mom, who had been a rebel, had decided that she was going to be exactly like the other people in this world. Actually, she was pretty sure her mom was just sad because Bailey wasn't more like her.

Her two siblings, Jack and Sydney, were fourteen and eleven and were both more of their mom than their dad. She didn't understand why her mom thought they should all be like her. And, even if she was to turn into her mom, which she had always been sure her mom had been disappointed in her because she hadn't been, it wouldn't be by attending summer camp.

She rolled out of bed to head down the hall towards the shower. This was going to be a very long summer.

Lainey jumped out of bed at seven a.m.. She was excited to go back home for the summer. She had thrown a fit whenever her mom had told the family that they were all moving. Her older brother, Craig, was moving off to college in the fall in West Virginia, so that didn't help because her and her older brother had always been close.

So, Craig had decided that he was going to spend the summer in Maryland to be with his family and then move back to West Virginia, but that was before Lainey had decided to stay in West Virginia. Craig had not been happy about this change in plans and had sparked another argument between the family. In the end, Craig was spending his last summer in Bethesda, and she was going to West Virginia. And that was that.

But, she was going to spend her last time with her friends. She already missed her best friend, Rachelle, so much. And then, the rest of their 'group' Donny, Lacey, Margaret, Matt, Nick, and Marcus. She knew that they would have a blast this summer, plus this was going to be her last summer to tell Marcus how she truly felt about him. Lainey had inherited a lot from her mom, however, the going after guys you really like had never been her strong suit. She had liked Marcus since the seventh grade and he had no idea. She hurried into the shower, she couldn't wait to look her best.

The sun was beaming down through Sarah's room when she finally managed to wake up the next morning. She rolled over and looked at her clock that read noon. She was infamous for sleeping late. And she loved to do it. Her mom used to complain about wasting your day if you slept past eleven or even ten, but Sarah didn't see it that way. She saw it as she got up late so that she could stay up late.

Of course, there was no real reason to stay up late in Bethesda yet. She knew nobody except Vanessa, and Vanessa didn't seem too much like she went to parties every night. Which was fine with Sarah, but she had to get out and meet new people or she was going to go crazy this summer. She had to have friends. She couldn't live without them. Sure, she missed her old friends from her hometown, but she also knew that within a couple of years that her friendship with those boys and girls would be long gone. So, it was time to make new friends, find a new boyfriend, and just all around have a good time this summer.

Starting that, however, was not going to be so easy. She rolled out of bed and stalked her way to her shower. She could hear her thirteen year old brother playing video games in his room and rolled her eyes. That boy did not have any social life at all. And he didn't care to. All he cared about was his video games, tv, and music. Sarah was not going to be like that. She was going to start making friends today in this town of Bethesda.

Vanessa took a quick lunch break at one o'clock. She had slept in until ten, and then her mom had so nicely informed her that she had to get a job this summer and that she couldn't just hang around the house. Vanessa's entire summer plans had been ruined. Anyways, she had gotten up, showered, gotten dressed, and left the house around eleven to go look for a job. Except, there were no jobs anywhere available to her.

Vanessa was a sixteen year old girl with no work experience. Who would want to hire her? She wouldn't even hire herself. But, most of the people she had visited today had been down right rude to her. And she was getting irritated. She was actually very good at controlling her temper and anger, so for her to get irritated usually took a lot of effort on the people's halves.

She hated the fact that her mom was making her get a job. It was only because all of her friends daughters were going to be busy this summer, going to camp, going back home, making new friends. But, since she hadn't moved anywhere she didn't have to make new friends. And she didn't have to unpack. She also didn't have to visit old friends. So, here she was spending a summer in the same old boring town she grew up in, not even getting to do her normal summer schedule. So, maybe she was a little more irritated with her mom than with the people who kept turning her down.. She rose from the table and decided to go ahead and continue her day of searching.

"Bye honey," Tibby hugged her daughter at the airport at eight o'clock that morning, "I know you will have a great time."

"Correction, mom," Bailey interrupted, "You think I will have a great time, but you know that I will have a horrible time and are absolutely dreading my calls back home every day telling you how much I hate the camp. Wouldn't it be so much easier if you just let me stay home?"

"Well, aren't you precious," Tibby muttered under her breath, and then spoke aloud to her daughter, "Look Bailey, I know you think this thing is going to suck. Trust me, I, your dad, and your siblings have heard about it enough these last couple of weeks. But, you have got to suck it up and deal with it. Jack and Sydney are not complaining at all about having to go to summer camp, so neither should you."

"They are going to film camp," Bailey said, through gritted teeth.

"And if you were interested in that kind of stuff, I would let you go there to," Tibby replied.

"Fine, whatever, bye mom, I know I will have a fantastic time at camp and will definitely write you to tell you how totally right you were all along," Bailey said, sarcasm seeping through every word.

"Aren't you just so cute when you're sarcastic?" Tibby asked, using the exact same tone of sarcasm, "Now, good luck and get out there and be all that you can be."

At those words, Bailey and her mom both burst out laughing. The earlier tension between them completely forgotten. Bailey headed to board the plane and didn't say another word about not wanting to go.

Exactly five hours after Bailey had boarded her flight to Delaware, Lainey and her family were saying their good byes at the plane that left for West Virginia.

"I still can't believe that you aren't even going to stay with your favorite brother for a summer," Craig muttered under his breath. Lainey rolled her eyes and threw her arms around her brother. Her brother and her were so much alike that it was scary, both loved soccer (which wasn't an unusual thing since both their parents loved soccer), both had extremely good looks, they knew what they wanted in life, and they got what they wanted in life.

"I'm gonna miss you Craig," Lainey replied, "And I'll still see you the last two weeks of the summer, you know, when you come up and stay with us at Rachelle's and then when I come back up to help you load everything up."

"But its not going to be the same," he glowered at her, before shrugging and stepping back. Bridget came up and enveloped her daughter in a big hug.

"Honey, I hope you have fun," Bridget said, then followed it with a warning, "but don't do anything stupid."

"Mom, when have I ever done anything stupid?" Lainey asked indignantly. Craig snorted.

"Anytime you're with your friends," Bridget drily replied to her daughter, "be careful."

"Fine mom," Lainey sighed, throwing her mom a huge grin, "I won't do anything you didn't do while in high school."

Before her mom could protest Lainey bounced into the plane.

Sarah looked around and saw absolutely nobody. Where could everybody be? Unless this was an unusual town, most of the teenagers wouldn't have summer jobs. But, before she could go too deep into her train of thought, she saw a group of girls walking towards an ice cream shop. She quickly sized them up. One thing Sarah had always been good at was analyzing people.

The group had four girls. The girl second from the left seemed to be the leader of the pack. The way she commanded attention from the others, and the way they gave her attention. They also seemed to be a pretty fun group to hang out with. She quickly walked towards them, trying to figure out the best approach for this mission.

"Do you guys happen to know where Wallman's is?" she asked as she approached them, using the first store that came to her mind from her mom's friend, Tibby's, days of working there. The girls, however, just stared at her.

"Uh ... Wallman's closed down," one of the girls said, looking at their leader, who was studying Sarah.

"Hi, my name is Susie, and you are?" the leader inquired.

"Sarah, must have been mistaken about the store name," she shrugged.

"No problem, this is Terry, Lisa, and Mandy, would you like to get some ice cream with us?" Susie asked.

"Sure," she replied. As she walked into the ice cream shop she mentally thought, that wasn't so hard, now was it?

Vanessa hurried home after finally done job searching. She had actually found a job at a McDonald's about five blocks from her house. She was not excited about working at a McDonald's, or about the fact that she had traveled all over the town to find a job and had finally found one only five blocks from her house. But, Vanessa always took great pride in making her mom proud.

"Mom, guess what?" Vanessa burst out as soon as she reached the kitchen of her house.

"What?" her mom said, distracted with something she was typing on her computer for her job.

"I found a job," Vanessa said, waiting for her mom's reaction.

"Good, now you can do that and clean out the garage," Carmen told her, flashing her a brief smile.

"Wait, what?" Vanessa protested.

"Look, since all of my friends moved into new houses, I realize that our house needs a good sweeping through. So, you are in charge of rearranging, getting rid of stuff, and cleaning the garage," Carmen said decidedly.

"But mom," she whined.

"Just do it," Carmen said, a hint of anger coming out in her voice, "I don't ask you to do much around this house. So, just do it."

"Fine," she mumbled under her breath. This was going to be a long summer.


	5. Chapter Four

"_Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one."_

_-Eleanor Roosevelt_

Chapter Four

Bailey stepped off of the plane and immediately face planted after tripping over somebody's knapsack. She heard people giggling all around her. Bailey almost hit herself in the face. She couldn't believe she was already making a fool of herself, then suddenly she heard a deep voice behind her.

"Are you okay?" she heard. She looked up into a pair of the most gorgeous blue eyes she had ever seen. She quickly stood up and brushed off her shorts.

"Yeah, no problem," she lied. Well, she hadn't been physically hurt, but she was very emotionally scarred at the moment. Of course, these moments happened more often than Bailey would like to admit.

"Well, my name is Scott," the boy introduced himself, "you must be going to Camp Teens."

"How did you know?" she asked curiously.

"Because most teenagers in this airport are going," he grinned at her. That was when she noticed a girl staring huffily at Bailey in the background. She quickly sized the girl up before sticking out her hand and doing something she had never done before.

"Hi, my name is Bailey," she introduced herself.

"Shannon," the girl replied, giving the boy a pouting look, "come on Scott, let's go, we want to get a good seat on the bus."

"Okay," Scott replied, "nice to meet you Bailey. Hope to see you around camp."

The couple walked off and she watched them go, a dreading sense coming over her. Why did that absolutely gorgeous pair of blue eyes have to belong to someone else? For the first time in her life, Bailey knew what it was like to find someone absolutely gorgeous.

"You just met the golden couple of Camp Teens," a voice behind her spoke up. She turned around and saw two girls that looked very similar standing there.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Nah, its okay. Scott's really nice, Shannon's really controlling and jealous," the other girl informed her, "my name is LeeLee and this is my younger sister Madison."

"This is my first year at camp too," Madison informed Bailey.

"But, then how did you know they were the golden couple?" Bailey asked curiously.

"Oh, my sister told me," Madison said, "it's her second year, along with Scott and Shannon's."

"My name's Bailey," she suddenly remembered she hadn't introduced herself, the trio started heading towards the buses, "why exactly do they call this Camp Teens, surely they could have come up with something better."

Madison and LeeLee let out giggles before LeeLee replied, "Just wait until you meet the camp directors. You'll understand then."

They quickly boarded one of the buses and LeeLee spotted somebody she knew and walked towards the back to sit with them, whereas Madison and Bailey took a seat near the front.

"Look, Bailey has found a friend," she heard behind her. She quickly turned to look and saw Scott and Shannon sitting right behind them. She almost groaned, why did they have to sit behind her? Scott flashed them a smile and all Bailey could do was smile back like an idiot.

Sarah smiled and hummed as she got ready for her big party. Susie, Terry, Lisa, and Mandy had invited her to what they said was going to be a huge blow-out party to get the summer started. She was excited to get to finally go to a party.

After just having ice cream with the girls, her life was already looking pretty good in Bethesda. She then heard the doorbell ring. Sarah let out a tiny squeal before looking herself over once more and making her way downstairs. Maybe she could meet a guy for the summer fling romance that she had always wanted to have.

"Hey Susie," Sarah greeted, flashing the girl a smile as she reached the front door, where her mom was talking to the girls.

"Are you ready?" Susie greeted back, smile gracing her face.

"Totally," Sarah answered, giving her mom a quick hug and walking out to Susie's convertible and hopping into the back seat.

"Okay, rules of these parties," Terry started, "always look your best."

"And always realize that Susie gets first dibs on guys," Lisa continued. Sarah was oddly reminded of the night that the pants had first been issued to the younger girls and the way their mom's just picked up their conversation right where the other one left off.

"Oh, and don't forget to look like you are having fun, even if your not," Mandy inserted.

"Girls, we don't have to go over these rules with her," Susie drawled, "she can make up her own mind on what rules to follow."

The other three girls glanced at each other, a sly glance that did not escape Sarah's notice. Lisa then leaned over to her and whispered, "she's just testing you, you have to follow the rules."

Sarah's smile waned a little at this. Why should she let Susie have first dibs of guys? But, as quickly as the flare came, it left. Of course Susie should have first dibs on the guys because she was originally the one who was invited to the party and the rest had just been invited by Susie.

So, without Susie, there would have been no party for Sarah to go to. And she really wanted to go to this party. Pretty soon they pulled up in front of a house and saw kids already seemingly drunk out of their minds and doing odd things. Maybe, Sarah thought, I shouldn't be getting myself into this.

But, she quickly dismissed the thought for a smile a second later as they all piled out of Susie's car. She knew that she was ready for some fun.

Lainey threw her arms around Rachelle the second she spotted her in the busy terminal. The girls squealed and hugged again as soon as the hug was released. Then, Lainey turned to all of her other friends, who had come along to pick her up and hugged each one of them in turn, all eager to start their summer together.

"Oh my gosh," Rachelle gushed, "it's only been a week and I was already missing you like crazy."

The group sat off, the girls leading the pack while the boys dropped back a little to carry Lainey's luggage.

"So, how's your new town?" Lacey inquired of Lainey.

"It is so dull," Lainey replied, exaggeration evident in her voice, "I wish I could move back here, it would be so much better than living there. My mom thinks that I'm going to become best friends with all of her best friends daughters."

"Like that'll ever happen," Rachelle inserted, as they all shared a good laugh at the other three girls. The group had met the other three girls only once and the boys had been obviously enthralled by them, so the girls had been jealous and petty towards them all week. It was kind of an unspoken rule that nobody ever got with those guys without seeking permission from one of the girls first.

Behind the girls, the boys were holding a conversation of their own.

"So, dude, when are you going to tell her?" Donny asked of Marcus, gesturing to the girl who had recently arrived by plane.

"Tell her, why should I tell her?" Marcus responded, nervously.

"Dude ...," Nick started, but was interrupted by Donny.

"If you are just going to wimp out, then go ahead. But, don't pretend like you don't have a right to tell her," Donny said, angrily, trotting forward to catch up with the girls.

"What's his problem?" Marcus asked of his other two companions. Matt and Nick both just shook their heads, but kept their mouths shut.

Up ahead, Donny had taken to standing next to Lainey, being as nice as he could be to her, which made her suspicious.

"Donny," Lainey suddenly said, "you are never this nice to me, why are you being this nice now?"

"Because you are my friend that I won't get to spend next year with and I'll miss you immensely," Donny answered, flashing his pearly white teeth, but also thinking to himself, and you are in for a big surprise with Marcus.

Vanessa grumpily entered the garage. Admittedly, the garage did need cleaning out, but she didn't see why she had to do it. It was probably because she was an only child and her parents couldn't equally distribute the chores, so she got stuck doing chores all on her own. And she didn't like it.

Plus, both her parents worked long hours, so that didn't help the situation any. She quickly picked up a box and opened it and found a picture. There was a picture of her mom and her three best friends at graduation several years ago. Vanessa smiled at the picture, wishing she could have friends like her mom had. She quickly discarded the box, deciding it was probably sacred for just her mom.

Before she could go to any other boxes she heard the phone ring upstairs. She sprinted upstairs and answered the phone only to find out it was her friend, Lisa.

"Hey Vanessa," Lisa excitedly said, "we so have to go to this party tonight."

"Lisa," Vanessa said patiently, "you know I don't like parties, I don't like the loud music, I don't like the people ...,"

"You don't like what it represents teenagers as," Lisa said, bored, "Yawn, yawn. Just live a little and have a little fun. Please. Just this once."

"Fine," Vanessa said, gritting her teeth, "I'll see you soon."

Vanessa normally would have put up a bigger fight than that, but she could really use anything to do besides cleaning the garage. Not to mention the fact that her mother kept telling her that she needed to get more involved in things and people.

Lisa showed up at her house a couple of hours later, both dressed for a party. Vanessa quickly climbed into Lisa's car and they took off.

"So, where exactly is this party?" Vanessa asked as the drove.

"Oh you know," Lisa said, obviously trying to avoid the question.

"No, I don't know," Vanessa said, irritated, "That would be why I asked."

She muttered a word that sounded strangely like Kayla.

"No way," Vanessa protested severely, "you know how I feel about her and you want me to go this stupid party of hers?"

"Just forget I told you who's it was," Lisa said, helpfully.

"You owe me big time," Vanessa grumbled at the girl.

"This is Kayla," Susie introduced Sarah to the girl, "she's the one actually throwing the party."

"It looks like a cool party," Sarah said, politely. Just then Susie looked around the room and her eyes landed on a guy across the room.

"Who is he?" she asked, checking the guy out. Sarah and Kayla both turned to look at the guy. Sarah didn't see what was so special about him, he actually looked kind of familiar though.

"I have no idea," Kayla shrugged.

"Me neither," Sarah admitted.

"Well, then let's go introduce ourselves," Susie encouraged. The other two girls shrugged and followed Susie over.

"Hi, my name is Susie," she introduced herself, extending her hand to the boy. The boy looked down at her and gave her a quick smile.

"Craig," the boy acknowledged.

"These are my friends, Sarah and Kayla," she introduced them with a wave of her hand, obviously a dismissal for them to leave.

"Nice to meet you," he politely answered, but Sarah could see that his eyes were wandering around the room as if trying to find something more important to do. Both Sarah and Kayla rolled their eyes before walking off.

"She'll have him by the end of the night," Kayla confidently said to her.

"What makes you say that?" Sarah questioned.

"She always does," Kayla simply stated. Sarah quickly shook her head before heading over to get a drink. Somehow, she thought, she may be in over her head with this group.

"Are you from Tennessee, because you're the only ten I see," she heard a voice behind her speak. She rolled her eyes and turned around to face the boy with the bad pick-up line.

"Do you really think I'm going to respond in a positive way to that remark?" Sarah questioned.

"What? It was ...," the boy began.

"Totally stupid, overused, and a complete downer on my intelligence," Sarah finished for him. Before the boy could say something else, a third party spoke up.

"Dude, Shane, you heard the girl, get out of her," the third party said. The first boy sulked off and the other smiled at Sarah.

"Hi, my name is Carlos," the boy smiled at her. She smiled up at him. He had a perfectly toned body, perfectly dark hair, and dark eyes, and a beautiful smile.

"Sarah," she smiled back.

"Would you like to dance?" he offered, without waiting for an answer, he led her to the dance floor.

"So, do you live around here?" he asked as soon as they were settled into a slow song.

"I just recently moved here," she admitted. He smiled at her before pulling her closer.

'This night might actually turn out alright,' Sarah thought to herself before looking over at Susie and realizing she wasn't having much luck with Craig.

Vanessa was very hostile. She was mad because she let Lisa talk her into coming. And she was mad because Lisa ditched her two seconds after they arrived to go have fun, saying Vanessa would be a total drag to hang out with because she wasn't going to have fun.

"Hello?" a voice questioned next to her as the person joined her in leaning up against the wall.

"Hello," she curtly replied, looking at the boy standing next to her, who had gorgeous blonde hair and was well muscled.

"Look, I don't know you, but I need your help," the boy begged. Vanessa quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Do elaborate," she urged him.

"Well, there's this girl and her name is Susie or something like that and she's trying to hook up with me," the boy quickly explained, looking around for this girl. Vanessa laughed slightly.

"And you aren't totally buying into her charm?" Vanessa asked, smiling a sympathetic smile at the boy. She knew who he was talking about, because, of course, she had gone to school with Susie for several years. And Susie always had to have what she wanted.

"No," the boy responded, "she's dull and boring and totally slutty."

"My name's Vanessa," she introduced herself, glad that for once in her life somebody wasn't totally buying into the "Susie charm".

"Craig," the boy responded, looking around for the one person he was trying to avoid, "so, here's what I want you to do, I want you to pretend to be my girlfriend."

Vanessa burst out laughing, "That only works in TV shows and movies."

"Have you met Susie?" Craig asked her, "I'm sure it'll work and she'll totally believe it."

"And kill me for 'taking her guy'," Vanessa inserted.

"And do you care?" the boy asked, flashing her a brilliant smile.

"No, my social status has no real effect on me," she admitted.

"Great, so will you do it?" he asked.

"Sure," she shrugged. A little bit of adventure wouldn't hurt her, would it?

"All campers check in at the information tent and we will tell you which cabin that you are assigned to," they heard somebody speak over the loud speaker at camp. Madison and Bailey walked over to the information tent and stood in line quietly.

"New here?" a friendly voice spoke to them as they moved forward in line. They looked behind them to see a pretty girl speaking to them.

"Yeah," Madison said, shyly, "I'm Madison, this is Bailey."

"Hey," the girl greeted, "I'm Beth. I'm nineteen years old and you guys most both be sixteen."

"Yeah," Bailey hesitantly said.

"Cool, fresh meat," Beth answered, winking at them to let them know she was only joking. Suddenly, they were at the front of the line.

"Madison Smith," , "Beth Garrett," , "Bailey McBrian," the three girls said at the same time to each of their respective counselors.

They each received their sheet of paper saying which cabin they were in.

"G-5," the three girls read at the same time.

"Sweet!" Madison said, excitedly, "I actually know somebody in my cabin!"

"Did you girls just say G-5?" a nasty voice spoke up behind them. They turned around to see Shannon standing there.

"Yeah, Shannon, do you have a problem with that?" Beth snapped at the younger girl.

"Standing up for the newbies?" Shannon snarled at her.

"Do I need to remind you that you were a newbie just last year?" Beth snarled back.

"But I still ruled the camp," Shannon said, haughtily. Suddenly, Scott came up behind her and put his arm around her.

"Hey babe," he greeted, "What cabin did you get?"

"G-5," she replied, "the same cabin as these ladies."

"Cool," he replied, winking at Bailey, "I hope you four become fast friends."

"Yeah right," Beth mumbled, not missing, however, the wink Bailey had received from Scott. Before anything else could be said, Shannon pulled Scott into a big kiss and confirmed that Shannon hadn't missed the wink either.

The three girls decided to walk off while the two were in their lip lock. For Bailey, that meeting had confirmed two things: 1) Shannon was not a girl to cross, and 2) She had a big crush on the guy who happened to be Shannon's boyfriend.

Lainey climbed into the back seat of Matt's car, Marcus climbing in beside her. He sat down while Donny took the front seat of Matt's car and the rest of the gang piled into Lacey's car.

"We missed you," Marcus whispered to Lainey as they began the drive to Rachelle's house.

"I know ... you guys are so going to be lost without me next year at school," Lainey drawled, turning her flirtatious side on.

"I know ... we're going to miss you like crazy," Marcus confided, "I'm going to miss you like crazy."

He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, but then didn't drop it. Donny glanced back from the front seat and shook his head at the two, but neither seemed to notice.

Lainey was excited. She couldn't wait to wear the pants! She knew that the night she wore those was the night that Marcus was going to find out how she really felt. And she could only hope he felt the same way.


	6. Chapter Five

"_The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle."- Anais Nin_

Chapter Five

Vanessa watched the video wearily. It was her first day on the job and she was required to watch training videos. But, instead of being able to concentrate on the videos, all she could think about was last night

_Last Night_

"_Craig! There you are," Susie sauntered up to the pair that was on the dance floor, "Vanessa, what exactly are you doing talking to him?"_

_Vanessa couldn't help but crack a small smile before replying, "Actually, better question for you Susie, why have you been talking to my boyfriend?"_

"_He is not your boyfriend," Susie said, eyes narrowing at the two. Craig was holding the girl close to him and they did in fact look like a real couple._

"_And you determined that based on what?" Vanessa answered. Craig just smiled at her._

"_Because he was flirting with me earlier," Susie stammered out. _

"_Sure I was," Craig rolled his eyes, "Not in a million years. I love Vanessa."_

_Just then, the two Lisa's came to join their friends. Vanessa's friend Lisa shot her a curious glance and Vanessa sent her one back telling her that she would explain later. Whereas Susie's friend Lisa narrowed her eyes at the couple so close together._

"_He is mine," Susie screamed frustrated at the pair, looking as if ready to start a cat fight. But, before anything could get started Kayla joined the little group._

"_Vanessa, I'm going to have to ask you to leave my party," Kayla said, daggers in her eyes. The two didn't get along and Vanessa didn't have any problem with leaving the party, especially since she didn't want to go in the first place._

"_But you can stay Craig," Susie flirted, suddenly turning sweet again. _

"_Sorry," Craig answered, "I'm going with Vanessa."_

_The two walked out the door, hand in hand, and once far enough out in the street where no one could hear them they began to laugh._

"_Did you see the look on her face?" Craig asked joyfully._

"_It was hilarious," Vanessa agreed. _

"_Do you need a ride home?" he asked her, "I mean, after all it is the least I owe you for being my girlfriend."_

"_Oh, it was fun," Vanessa answered, "You have no idea how good it felt to treat Susie like that."_

"_And the ride?" he once again offered._

"_Sure, my ride is still in there partying," Vanessa shrugged. She looked down and realized that their hands were still linked together. Craig followed her gaze and both suddenly dropped their hands. _

"_Anyways ...," Craig muttered and the two walked to his car. They drove in complete silence to her house. Vanessa didn't think she'd ever been so relieved to see her house._

"_Bye," Craig said as she got out of the car. She gave him a quick wave before heading into the house._

Last night had been fun Vanessa had determined this morning. Of course, telling Lisa about it was not going to be as fun. And, oddly enough, never getting to see Craig again was not going to be any fun either.

--

Bailey sat down with Madison and Beth at the first camp meeting in the big auditorium the next morning.

"Mr. and Mrs. Little will introduce themselves at this meeting," Beth whispered to Bailey. Last night had been fun. They had introduced themselves in the cabin (there was twelve girls in the cabin). Madison and Bailey had decided to share a bunk and they were right by Beth and her friend, Jennifer, sharing a bunk. The only problem was Shannon and her friends Jamie, Casey, and Megan.

Just then the lights began to dim in the auditorium.

"Is this seat taken?" a voice whispered beside Bailey. She shook her head and the person slid in beside her.

"Hello camp," a cheerful voice suddenly spoke. An elderly couple came out onto stage and waved enthusiastically at the crowd before the woman stepped up to the microphone.

"Hello dears," she greeted, "My name is Mrs. Little and this is my husband, Mr. Little. We founded this camp in 1976 for young teenagers such as yourself to have good clean fun. We keep this tradition up today by leaving the ever-loved Camp Teens open!"

"Those are the owners?" Bailey whispered, apparently not quiet enough because the person next to her laughed.

"Nice Bailey," she heard a familiar whisper. She turned and saw Scott sitting next to her.

"Where's your girlfriend?" she asked him while the camp owner continued to talk.

"Back there somewhere," he motioned with his hand, "I don't have to sit with her twenty-four hours a day."

"She has a seat saved for you, you know that, right?" Bailey grinned at him.

"Sometimes you gotta do things on your own," Scott shrugged, "She's a little clingy sometimes."

"I'll say," Bailey muttered, more to herself than to Scott, then she continued, "So do they live in this camp?"

"Nah," Scott replied, "Are you kidding they would die at the dances that we have every year. It's better off that they aren't here."

"This place has dances?" she asked.

"Well ... yeah," Scott answered, grinning at her, "why are you afraid of a little dancing?"

"Yes, I'm terribly afraid to get up in front of people and dance," she dead panned. Trying not to reveal that she was, in fact, terribly afraid of getting up in front of people and dancing.

"Well, I'll see ya around," Scott answered as the lights came back on and Bailey realized that she had missed most of the meeting by talking to Scott. Scott got up and left and Madison and Beth both turned to Bailey with questioning looks on their faces.

"What?" she questioned.

"Dude, he so likes you," Madison said, a hint of jealousy in her face.

"I'm sure he really does," Bailey said sarcastically, "considering he is going out with the prettiest girl in camp."

"Shannon is NOT the prettiest girl in camp," Beth reprimanded her, "and please, he is always talking to you. And he winked at you yesterday."

"He's just being nice," Bailey said, getting up from her seat as they exited the auditorium.

"Okay," the other two replied, knowing looks on their faces.

"You guys are hopeless," Bailey said, grinning as they headed out of the auditorium.

"Hello Bailey," she heard the voice of the one person that could make her camp experience bad speak up behind her.

"Hey Shannon," she said casually, turning around.

"Well, I have been thinking about something since last night," Shannon said, haughtily.

"She can think, that is so amazing," Beth said in a stage whisper. Madison giggled while Bailey fought to keep a straight face.

"I've been thinking that you can sit with us at lunch today Bailey," Shannon said, triumphantly.

"Oh can I, really?" Bailey asked, with fake excitement. She didn't really understand where that came from. She had never been that mean to anyone outside of her family in her whole life before.

"Are you rejecting my proposal?" Shannon asked coolly.

"Rejecting is such a strong word," Bailey answered confidently, not knowing where this confident streak was coming from, "more like, saying no several times over."

"Bailey McBrian," the girl said, outraged, "You will live to regret this day."

She stormed off with her entourage following her. Before she had even left ear shot, everybody else that had overheard the conversation began to laugh.

--

Lainey couldn't wait to go party tonight. Last night she and the gang had stayed up pretty much all night catching up on old times. The boys had left surely after three a.m. to go home, but the girls stayed the night at Rachelle's house and stayed up until dawn talking. And then had slept late into the morning, well, Lainey had just woken up and was making her way downstairs.

"Hey Lainey," Margaret greeted her as she joined Margaret in the kitchen the next morning. Margaret and Lainey were always the first two girls up in the morning.

"Hey Mag," she greeted back, "I'm so excited to go out and take the town by storm tonight."

"This doesn't have anything to do with a certain boy in our group does it?" Margaret asked, wagging her eyebrows at her friend.

"What makes you say that?" she answered with a question, very innocently.

"Because you've been pining over this boy for years," Margaret answered her.

"I have not been pining over any boy for years," she protested.

"Sure, but look, Lainey, there's something you need to know ...," Margaret abruptly stopped as Lacey entered the room.

"Hey girls," she greeted as she plopped down with the duo.

"Hey Lacey," they both greeted. Lainey shot Margaret a questioning glance, but Margaret just shook her head. Apparently now was not the time to talk about whatever was bothering Margaret.

Before anybody could add anything else, Rachelle joined the group.

"Hey hookers," she greeted her long-time friends as she sat down at the table, "what are we having for breakfast?"

"This is your house," Lainey pointed out, laughing aloud at her friend.

"Well, I know that," Rachelle said, exasperated, "I just figured that you guys would already have breakfast for me."

"At your own house?" Lacey asked the girl.

"Whatever," Rachelle said, grumpily, "let's go get some food. I'm hungry."

"Dressed like this?" Margaret said indignantly.

"Sure, then everybody will know we've been at a sleepover," Rachelle giggled.

"I'm in," Lainey grinned.

"You would be," Margaret muttered.

"Come on, you know you want to," Rachelle urged.

"If you guys are going to, I guess I'll go," Lacey reluctantly said. She never felt right until she had a shower and was dressed for the day.

"Unbelievable," Margaret said to herself as the group got up from the table and headed towards the door.

Ten minutes later they were seated at an IHOP in their pajamas with no make-up on. The waiter came up and grinned at the four girls.

"May I get you guys something to drink?" he asked, obviously laughing at the girl's choice of attire. The four quickly gave their orders for drinks and turned back to the conversation at hand.

"I know, so then Marcus comes up and says, 'what is wrong with that guy?'" Rachelle finished a story about meeting a homosexual who hit on Marcus while the two of them were out for coffee.

"That's not funny," was Lainey's flat conclusion about the story. She didn't know why she didn't find the story funny, normally she would be rolling on the floor laughing, yet their seemed to her that she was missing a bigger piece of the puzzle.

"Whatever," Rachelle dismissed. Which actually made Lainey even more suspicious because Rachelle never gave up without a fight. Before actually being able to process the information, Rachelle's phone rang. She quickly got up and left the table, mouthing at the group that it was Marcus.

Alarm bells went off in Lainey's head. Why would she leave the table to hold a conversation with Marcus? They never left the group when talking to another member of the group. And that's when it hit Lainey, Rachelle liked Marcus. That would explain the story that wasn't very funny, and the fact that Rachelle didn't defend her story, because Rachelle knew how long Lainey had had a crush on Marcus. Lainey was not happy and she was going to prove to her back-stabbing best friend that she, in fact, was not a force to reckon with and Marcus was going to be hers.

--

Sarah hummed her way down the stairs the next morning. She was very excited, Carlos had dropped her off at her house last night and promised to call her today. She hadn't really watched what had gone down with Susie, but she knew it ended with her not getting that Craig guy and leaving the party early because she was very mad at some girl who was apparently Craig's girlfriend. She didn't get to hear who the girl was, however. Sarah happily answered her phone when it rang.

"Hey Sarah," Susie enthusiastically greeted her.

"Hey," Sarah said with as much happiness as she could muster after finding out that it wasn't Carlos calling her.

"Let's go shopping," Susie demanded of the girl.

"Um … okay?" Sarah reluctantly agreed.

"Good, I'll be there to pick you up in an hour," Susie said, and without a good-bye hung up the phone.

An hour later, the five girls were walking towards a McDonald's.

"Why are we going to McDonald's?" Sarah whispered to Lisa.

"Because Susie's ex-boyfriend works here and every time a guy rejects her she comes back to this guy for reassurance that she is beautiful," Lisa whispered back.

"Wait," Susie stopped the girls, "that's the whore who stole Craig from me."

Sarah looked to who she was pointing to and saw that it was Vanessa. She then looked at her friend like she was crazy.

"Vanessa?" Sarah inquired.

"Wait, how do you know Vanessa?" Susie questioned the girl, "I mean, we went to school with her, we should know her."

"She's my mom's best friend's daughter. And she is not dating Craig," Sarah informed her, "because I know for a fact that she does not have a boyfriend."

"Oh really," Susie muttered to herself, a look of what Sarah could only describe as pure evil coming over face, "We will have to teach that girl a lesson."


	7. Chapter Six

"_What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life."  
-Leo Buscaglia_

Chapter Six

Lainey looked over her outfit very carefully. She hated to admit it (okay, maybe she didn't hate to admit it), but she looked hot. Lainey was a little disappointed in the fact that she had been here for almost a week and she was losing the battle for Marcus. In fact, if she was really honest, Rachelle was kicking her butt. Marcus and Rachelle had been so nauseatingly flirty with each other that Lainey wasn't sure how to beat her.

So, that's where the pants came in. She had to send the pants on to Bailey tomorrow and she was not going to miss an opportunity for them to tell a great story. So, she was dressed in the pants and a blank tank top that showed her midriff. She couldn't wait to see Marcus now. Rachelle walked into the room and smiled at her friend.

"You look hot," she informed her. Lainey turned around and lost a bit of her signature smile when she noticed Rachelle's outfit. She had on a short jean skirt and a white tank top. Rachelle and Lainey had never competed for a guy before, and she realized how difficult this task was going to be when seeing her friend. They were both good-looking and stubborn.

"You too," Lainey returned shortly. Before too long Margaret and Lacey joined the two, looking pretty well-dressed themselves. Lainey quickly linked arms with Margaret and headed out the front door.

A look of confusion came over Margaret's face as they reached Lacey's car. Lainey and Rachelle were the ring leaders of the school and had done everything together, which meant that Lainey should be linking arms with Rachelle and walking out towards the car.

"What is the matter with you?" Margaret asked her, "You just totally blew off Rachelle."

"I did not blow her off," Lainey rolled her eyes, "It is just that we're so hot that we couldn't possibly enter the party together."

Margaret laughed as Rachelle and Lacey joined them, "So, are you saying Lacey and I aren't hot?"

"No, you're just not as hot," Lainey informed her. Lainey didn't believe in telling lies, so she always told it like it was.

"This party could be very interesting," Lainey heard Lacey mutter to Margaret as Lainey and Rachelle climbed into the back seat. Lainey couldn't help but silently agree.

---

Sarah looked over at Carlos as they stepped foot into McDonald's. It had been a terrific date thus far tonight. They had gone to a pretty fancy restaurant, a movie, and were now getting a late night snack before he took her home. As she walked up to the counter she saw Vanessa laughing with a couple of her co-workers. Vanessa saw her and quickly lost the smile on her face.

Sarah was confused. She knew that Susie was planning revenge on Vanessa, but there was no way that Vanessa would have figured it out. So, that wouldn't be why Vanessa looked upset to see her. And it wasn't like her and Vanessa didn't get along … they just weren't best friends.

"Can I help you?" Vanessa asked them coolly. Sarah looked at Vanessa, and noticed that her gaze seemed more focused on Carlos than on Sarah. Then Sarah understood, Vanessa had to be jealous of the two of them. Maybe she liked Carlos, he had just graduated, so they would have been in school together.

The two quickly put in their order and sat down. Carlos looked at Vanessa, who went back to her coworkers as they were getting the order ready.

"Wonder what's wrong with her," Carlos shrugged, "Do you know her?"

"Yeah," Sarah said slowly, shaking her head, "she's usually really nice to me. Maybe she's jealous."

"I don't know," Carlos frowned, "we didn't really hang in the same circles at school … well … she doesn't really have just one circle, but we never hung out."

"Well, I'll go get the food and talk to her then," Sarah assured Carlos. She walked up to the counter just as Vanessa was turning around with their order, jumping straight to the point, Sarah said, "what is your problem?"

"I don't think you should date him," Vanessa said, straight forward. Sarah looked at her a moment before speaking very slowly.

"And why not mom?" she said, adding a sarcastic tone into her voice.

"Because … because he's not a good guy," Vanessa informed her.

"So I was right," Sarah said, a smirk coming across her face, "you are so jealous of the two of us."

"Yes, because in English saying he's not a good guy automatically translates into I am insanely jealous of you and hope you die," Vanessa said, sarcastically, "I don't lie about stuff like that."

"But you lie about someone being your boyfriend who's not?" Sarah coyly pointed out to her. Vanessa looked at her confused.

"How in the world did you know about that?" Vanessa asked her.

"Because Susie told me," Sarah replied.

"What, you hang out with Susie?" Vanessa asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that too?" Sarah angrily retorted.

"Yes, actually, I do," Vanessa snapped at her, "I didn't want you to make stupid decisions, but apparently there is no stopping you from that."

Sarah grabbed her food off the counter and walked back to where Carlos was sitting.

"So?" Carlos asked, while grabbing his Big Mac.

"She's thinks you are a bad person," Sarah shortly informed him, hoping that she was conveying that she didn't want to talk about it any further. Sarah mulled over what Vanessa had told her about him not being a good guy. She realized Vanessa probably wasn't jealous, because she didn't seem like the type who would act that way even if being jealous, but then she couldn't quite figure out what going on then.

---

Lainey looked over at where Marcus was standing by himself. He seemed a little bored. She hadn't seen what had happened to Rachelle, but apparently this was the only opportunity she was going to get, because Rachelle had been hanging on him all night. She quickly approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and smiled at her.

"Hey Lainey," he greeted her.

"Hey Marcus," Lainey said, putting a smile on her face, "I need to talk to you."

"I need to tell you something too," Marcus admitted, "let's go sit down."

The two went and sat down on a couch in the living room. Lainey turned to him and decided to start. She took a deep breath in.

"Look Marcus, I know that I've moved and I won't even see you very much after this summer, but I have this feeling that I have to tell you this before I go," she rambled.

"Lainey, look, I have to tell you that ….," before Marcus could finish, Lainey leaned over and kissed him.

"That's what I needed to tell you," Lainey whispered as she pulled away, "I really like you. I'm sorry. What were you going to say?"

Marcus didn't reply, he just pulled Lainey into another kiss. Lainey could feel glee rising up in her as the two continued to kiss.

---

Bailey looked at the course ahead of her. She then turned to her friends, "No way am I doing this."

"Why not?" Madison asked her.

"I have my reasons. The first one being this is a cabin thing, so I'm pretty sure Shannon is going to use this in her evil plot to break me. Second, I can't do anything that requires any kind of balance. And third, because of the second reason, Shannon can then fulfill the first reason," Bailey ranted.

"Relax," Beth tried to console her, "if it makes you feel any better, these is just a low ropes, we'll just be walking on wires and stuff. No big deal."

"Hello?" Bailey said, looking at her like she was crazy, "did you not hear my part about having no balance?"

"Hey ladies," the trio heard a voice behind them. Bailey immediately smiled when she saw that it was Scott, but then with a flash, she began to look crestfallen.

"Hey Scott," Beth greeted as Madison and Bailey gave him half-hearted waves. As soon as he was out of ear shot Bailey turned to Beth and Madison as Jennifer was joining them.

"Reason number four …. Scott is going to laugh his butt off at me," Bailey said miserably.

"Okay, no matter how jerky his girlfriend his, Scott would never laugh at you," Jennifer stuck up for Scott, "he's really nice."

"How come I didn't know we were doing this with guys?" Madison demanded to know, "I would have made myself look a little better if I would have known Scott was going to be here."

"Scott won't even notice we're alive," Bailey informed her, "now that he's with his little girlfriend."

"Okay," they all heard a voice speak up, "time to start the course."

"Great," Bailey muttered under her breath, but joined the rest of the group in paying all of their attention to the director of the ropes course.

"First, we will break into two teams, and one team will continue on this course," she said, indicating the course behind her, "and another will just do some teamwork building exercises. So, let's number off."

Bailey was thoroughly delighted when not only did she get to be on the same team as Beth, but that Scott and Shannon had been split up and Scott actually happened to be on her team too. The look that Shannon fixed Bailey with only made Bailey's spirits rise even more.

"Team number one," the director said, talking to the other team, "you will be using this ropes course, and team number two, please follow my assistant Gavin to that field over there."

"Sweet," Bailey mumbled to Beth as they walked, "I don't have to walk on those ropes after all."

"Do you even know what 'teamwork building exercises' even involves?" Beth inquired of her as they stepped onto the field. She was about to respond with a no, when Gavin stopped in the field and they all joined in a circle around him.

"To start off our exercises, I want every girl to find a boy close to them and break off into pairs," Gavin instructed. Without skipping a beat, Beth pushed Bailey towards Scott, shooting her a smile as she went over to join Scott's best friend, Larry, as partners. Scott looked down and smiled at Bailey.

"So, I guess we're partners," he grinned.

"Apparently," she muttered, more to herself than to Scott, feeling extremely embarrassed about whatever was about to ensue.

Before she knew it, Gavin came over and handed them a blindfold and then went back to the center of the circle, "So, I'm sure most of you guys have done this before, but we're going to do the whole blind fold one team member and the other will lead them around. This is to build trust in each other."

Bailey almost groaned aloud. Of course she remembered this exercise. The last time she had done this, she had been paired up with a popular boy who had allowed her to run into wall after wall amidst the laughter of other students. She looked up at Scott and knew, or at least hoped, that he wouldn't treat her the same way.

"You ready for this?" he kindly asked, leaning over and pulling the bandanna over her eyes. Before he could tie it, she got up enough nerve to speak.

"You're not going to lead me into anything are you?" she cautiously asked. Scott removed the blindfold and spun her around so she was facing him.

"Double B, I would never lead you astray, don't you know that?" he seriously asked her, winking at her, and then carefully pulling the bandanna back over her eyes and tying it. He grabbed one of her hands, lacing his fingers with hers, and then grabbed her other arm to help him guide her.

As he successfully led her around the field, Bailey couldn't help but get butterflies in her stomach. The fact that their hands were intertwined, the fact that he had said he would never lead her astray, and the fact that he had given her a nickname all to herself caused a big smile to come across her mouth. Maybe, she thought, this wasn't such a bad obstacle course after all.

--

Lainey hummed to herself as she took off the pants later that night. She had spent most of the night making out with Marcus and it was one of the best experiences of her life. She quickly packaged the pants and addressed them to Bailey. She smiled as she thought about how much these pants had made her happy with only her first time to wear them. She thought, no, she knew that nothing could ever bring her down from this cloud of happiness she was on.

---

_Bailey,_

_Well ... here is the first official passing on of the pants in the Second Generation. And this is a really awkward letter to write because I don't know what to tell you. Except for I hope these pants bring you the best of luck! Oh, and that they are the most awesome pants ever! Yeah baby!_

_Lainey_


	8. Chapter Seven

1"_Family blood isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."_

_-Trey Parker and Matt Stone_

Chapter Seven

Lainey got up early the next morning and was still full of energy. She decided that she was going to take a quick jog to the Post Office to drop off the pants and relieve some of the energy that she had built up inside of her. As she jogged, she realized how much she missed playing soccer. Nobody in the group really played soccer and she couldn't play on the summer league because she wasn't technically attending that school anymore, so she hadn't played soccer in a while.

Maybe she would convince Marcus and the others to play soccer with her today. Today she felt like she could do anything.

When she got back to Rachelle's house she noticed all of her friends standing on the porch with the exception of Rachelle and Marcus. She looked at them curiously.

"Hi?" she said as she stepped onto the porch, "you guys can just go in."

"We need to talk to you," Lacey said, bluntly. Lainey stared at her before taking a seat, the others following suit.

"We saw you making out with Marcus last night," Margaret gently told her.

"So?" Lainey questioned.

"He didn't tell you did he?" Donny asked, anger in his voice.

"Tell me what?" Lainey retaliated, irritation filling her voice.

"Marcus and Rachelle are going out," Margaret filled her in, "they have been since about a month before you moved."

---

"Hey Sarah," Susie excitedly said to her as the rest of the group picked Sarah up from her house to spend the day at Susie's, apparently to plot the revenge on Vanessa.

"And why are seeking revenge on Vanessa?" Sarah politely asked when they entered Susie's house.

"Because she made a complete fool of me at that party," Susie icily informed her, "and nobody makes a complete fool of me."

Sarah didn't feel that it would be a good time to point out that Susie had been making enough of a fool of herself by hanging all over an uninterested Craig the whole night without Vanessa's help.

"Maybe we could, like, totally trash her reputation," Terry excitedly suggested after they sat down on Susie's comfortable couches with Diet Cokes in their hands.

"Please," Sarah snorted.. The others looked at her, "do you guys not realize Vanessa does not care about her reputation at all? You could spread around school that she was a lesbian, and she really wouldn't care."

"And why is that?" Lisa asked the girl, "Because I believe everybody cares about their reputation at least a little."

"No, no, Sarah's right," Susie suddenly spoke up, "I mean, Vanessa doesn't care about rumors. You remember when people were calling that friend of hers named Lisa a disease-ridden slut and none of the rest of the school would go near her?"

"And Vanessa was her only friend," Mandy inserted.

"But, we're, like, totally good at ruining people's reputations, what else could we possibly do?" Terry asked, a look of panic on her face.

Susie suddenly turned to Sarah, "and what is your suggestion?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Sarah stuttered. She didn't really want to get involved with revenge on Vanessa.

"You are the one who first realized that ruining her reputation would have no affect on Vanessa, so it is, of course, your duty to figure out how exactly we can get revenge," Susie smoothly told her, "just throw a suggestion out there."

"Get her fired from the newspaper," Sarah blurted out. She quickly looked down in shock over what she had just said, of course it was a good idea, but the newspaper was Vanessa's life.

"What?" Mandy asked.

"Well, she loves the newspaper, the editors a guy, just like flirt with him enough that he'll kick her off the school newspaper," Sarah hurriedly finished.

"That is a brilliant idea," Susie said ecstatically, "you are a genius! I knew there was a reason that I let you in my circle of friends."

Sarah smiled a weak smile at the group of girls gathered around.

---

"Bailey McBrian," she heard the voice call her name as she was eating in the mess hall. Apparently, she had received a package, but she had no idea who from. She quickly ran up to the grab the package and immediately knew what it was.

The Pants.

"What the heck is that?" Shannon asked, a hint of amusement in her voice as she looked at the awkwardly shaped package.

"It's a voodoo doll," Bailey replied drily. For the last two days, all she had been hearing from Shannon was insults and snide remarks. And for the first time in her life, Bailey McBrian was sick of it. She actually had friends for the first time in a long time. If she admitted it, Bailey was actually pretty popular here at this camp. The only thing that stood in her way was a certain girl named Shannon.

"Hey you guys," Beth greeted as she plopped down next to Madison, "we have a dance on Friday."

Bailey broke out into a grin. Man, she couldn't wait to wear the Pants on Friday.

---

Vanessa had been working in the garage for three hours. She had been crazy busy trying to clean the garage out as fast as she could. She had gotten about 1/4 of the way done and she had calculated that she had put somewhere between 5 and 10 hours of manual labor into that 1/4. This was crazy. She was getting ready to take a break when she noticed a box labeled "Adoption". She quickly grabbed the box to open it.

At the very top of the stack was a picture of the original Sisterhood pregnant with the June's. Except, Carmen didn't look very pregnant. In fact, she was as skinny as ever. All the others looked to be about six or seven months along. Vanessa drew in a quick gasp, knowing exactly what was going on here, but not wanting to believe it.

She dug deeper down into the pile until she found what she was looking for. As she saw the adoption papers, legally declaring her parents as her, well, parents she could feel the room spinning around her.

How come her parents hadn't told her she was adopted? How come nobody had told her? It would explain a lot with the fact that she didn't look like either of her parents, and that she didn't much have their personalities.

Vanessa sat down on the hard floor and gazed in wonder at the adoption papers.

--

"Carlos, what would you do if you made a huge mistake and you didn't know how to fix it and somebody is going to end up seriously hurt?" Sarah asked as she cuddled with Carlos on his living room couch as they watched a movie.

"Does this person know that they are going to be seriously hurt?" Carlos asked thoughtfully.

"No, that's the worst part," Sarah complained, "This person isn't that bad of a person, they just got on somebody's bad side."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Carlos dismissed, leaning in to kiss her, "this person will be fine. I'm sure."

They kissed for a few seconds, but as his hands started to slide up her shirt, Sarah jumped up off the couch.

"I think its time for me to go home," she said forcefully. A flash of anger came across Carlos's face before he nodded, smiling at the girl.

"You are right," he pleasantly said, "we definitely wouldn't want to do anything that we'd regret later on."

As they left the house, Sarah couldn't help but think that his words sounded oddly forced or sarcastic.

---

Vanessa quickly hopped into her car and drove over to Bridget's house. After sitting there in the garage contemplating for about twenty minutes, she realized that she wanted some answers. And Bridget seemed to be the person to go for to get answers. She would, hopefully, tell it to Vanessa straight forward and then promise not to tell Carmen. Vanessa didn't want her mom to know that she knew about this yet.

She quickly hopped out of the car and ran up the steps and knocked on Bridget's door. The door swung open and there stood someone that Vanessa had never expected to see again.

"Craig?" she muttered.

"Vanessa, what are you doing, stalking me?" he joked around with her. Yet, after noticing the look on her face stopped.

"Why are you here?" she finally got enough of her voice back to ask him.

"Because I live here," he said, confused, "well, at least for the summer."

"Oh my gosh," Vanessa said, "You're Bridget's Craig. Of course, how could I have missed that before?"

"Um, missed what?" Craig asked, confused.

"I'm Carmen's daughter," Vanessa prodded, hoping to make him realize.

"Oh," Craig said, then another thing seemed to click in his mind and he said again, "o-oh."

"Is your mom home?" Vanessa curtly asked.

"No, she's coaching her soccer team right now," Craig informed her, "maybe I can help you with something."

"No, I guess its okay," Vanessa sighed, then looked back up at him suspiciously, "you're nineteen right?"

"Yes," he answered, not really knowing where this was going.

"Do you remember when our moms were pregnant with the four of us," Vanessa asked.

"Vaguely," he shrugged, then he asked, "why?"

"Did you know I was adopted?" she bluntly asked him.

"Wait, you're adopted?" Craig asked, trying his best to look surprised. The look on his face and the fact that it had taken him a few seconds too long to respond to that question answered Vanessa's questions more than his words.

"You knew?" she shrewdly asked him.

"Well ... yeah," Craig said, uncomfortably, "they had to tell me when I was old enough to realize that Carmen did not actually get pregnant. But, they told me I had to keep it a secret."

"Wait until I talk to my mom," she muttered to herself, turning to leave.

"Hey!" Craig called to her, running out to meet her, "I'm sorry, look, why don't I take you out for a sno cone?"

"Do you really think sno cones fix everything?" she politely asked him.

"Not everything," he calmly explained to her, "but a lot of things. So, what do you say?"

"I say, sure, why the heck not?" she calmly responded, linking her arm in his as they walked to her car.

---

Sarah looked down at the letter and bit her lip. She didn't know why she felt so guilty about this plot that hadn't even hatched yet.

She was trying to decide whether or not to send the letter, before she could change her mind she quickly sealed the envelope and ran downstairs and dropped it in the mailbox.


	9. Chapter Eight

1_Author's Note: Okay, so just last night I read the first chapter of the next Sisterhood book coming out! I am super excited. So, anyways, here's my new chapter._

"_We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."_

_-Kahlil Gibran_

Chapter Eight

"THEY ARE WHAT?" Lainey yelled at the group. They all cringed at the sound of her loud voice.

"You don't have to take it so personally," Lacey snapped at her.

"Oh, so you are telling me that I don't have to take personally the fact that my best friend is dating a guy that she knows I've had feelings for ... for years," Lainey retorted, an uncontrollable anger in her voice. Before any of them could stop her, she marched into the house and up the stairs and heard giggling in Lainey's room.

"Stop it," she heard, "what if Lainey happens ...,"

"To walk in on you?" Lainey asked, her voice icy as she walked into the room, followed rather reluctantly by the rest of the group. Sitting on her bed was Rachelle and Marcus who looked as if they had been in a rather heated make-out session.

"I can explain," Rachelle hastily said, climbing off the bed.

"Explain what? That you are a two-faced backstabbing ...," Lainey started to rant before getting interrupted.

"You're the one who made out with MY boyfriend," Rachelle snapped at her.

"Like I knew he was your boyfriend," Lainey rolled her eyes, getting angrier by the second.

"I know he told you," Rachelle yelled back.

"And how exactly do you know this?" Lainey shouted. The rest of the group edged to sit on the bed with Marcus to try and avoid being noticed by the two screaming girls.

"Because he told me," Rachelle defiantly said, pointing at her boyfriend, "besides, you so knew before you walked in here."

"Thanks to some of my real friends like Donny and Margaret," Lainey smirked.

Rachelle shot daggers at the group sitting on the bed before turning back to Lainey, "It's not like he wanted you anyways. Why else would he go out with me?"

"Why did he make out with me if he didn't want me?" Lainey coolly replied.

"Because he was drunk. Anyone can make a mistake like you when they are drunk," Rachelle coldly replied. At once knowing that the conversation had gone too far Lainey turned around and stormed out of the room. Rachelle and the rest of the group followed her, Marcus bringing up the tail end.

They watched in astonishment as Lainey took out her suitcase and began throwing her clothes in it. Rachelle sneered at the girl as she quickly moved around the room.

"Where are you going?" Rachelle asked, a snobby tone in her voice.

"I can't stay here anymore," Lainey shook her head.

"What are you going to do, live on the streets?" Rachelle sniggered.

"Better than here with you," Lainey replied, stopping to shoot daggers at Rachelle and Marcus.

"You can stay with me," Margaret spoke up. The rest of the group turned to her. None of them had said anything yet, in fear of drawing unwanted attention to themselves.

"WHAT?" Rachelle snapped at Margaret.

"If she doesn't want to stay here, and I don't blame her for not wanting to, she can stay at my house," Margaret replied, trying to look defiant and tough, but her fear shone through.

"Good idea," Lainey commended her as she finished packing her stuff and grabbed all of it. They quickly walked out to Margaret's car and left.

The others stood in stunned silence. The taking of sides had begun.

---

"You think I don't see the way you look at her?" Bailey heard a voice yelling as she left the bathroom of the cabin. Everybody else was supposed to be going to arts and crafts, but she had told her friends she would catch up. She quickly ducked back into the bathroom so as not to intrude in the argument, but not far enough in to where she couldn't hear the rest of the argument.

"What way do I exactly look at her?" she heard another exasperated voice that she knew to be Scott's, "she's just a friend."

"You gave her a nickname," the girl, who Bailey assumed to be Shannon, shouted back, "I mean 'Double B' her name isn't even double b's ... it's Bailey McBrian."

"So what if I gave her a nickname?" Scott asked, annoyed, "I give all my best guy pals nicknames and I definitely do not like them."

"Just ... just tell me you love me," Shannon managed to get out, her voice breaking with every word. Then there was silence. A few seconds later Shannon spoke up, with a teary voice, "please just go."

"Shannon ...," Scott said uncertainly.

"JUST LEAVE!" Shannon yelled at Scott. After it seemed that he had left Bailey heard sobbing coming from the room. She knew Shannon must be crying. She hastily exited the bathroom and approached the girl.

"Shannon?" she asked, timidly. Shannon looked up at her.

"What do you want?" she sneered.

"Are you okay?" Bailey asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Because I always cry when I'm okay," Shannon sarcastically answered her, tears still streaming down her face.

"Okay, just making sure," Bailey shrugged and hurried out the door of the cabin.

---

"Sarah, are you ready for your big debut to our school?" Susie asked the girl as they all piled in Susie's car.

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked, confusion filling her voice.

"Well, as good as your suggestion was yesterday I figured out some minor problems with it," Susie informed her.

"Such as?" Sarah asked.

"I can't exactly flirt with the editor, because he doesn't like me very much," Susie explained, "so, we totally think it is your duty as the person who came up with this plan to carry it out."

"And if I say no?" Sarah asked.

"Then have fun all summer hanging out with Vanessa," Susie coolly said.

"Maybe Vanessa isn't such a bad choice," Sarah muttered to herself, lucky no one else had heard her, then she talked out loud, "fine, I'll do it."

"Good, here's your chance," Susie urged her. The other girls pushed her out of the car in front of the school. She quickly walked into the building and noticed happily that the newspaper office seemed to be right there.

Yet, she was also worried. There was no way in the world that she could actually go through with it. While not being one of her friends, she did not have any problems with Vanessa. Well ... except for the whole declaring Carlos a jerk thing. That kind of made her mad. With resolve, she stepped into the newspaper office.

---

_Vanessa,_

_Hey, just thought I'd warn you that someone is planning on getting revenge on you. Their idea of revenge is to get you kicked off the newspaper. So, please be careful because I don't want to see you get hurt._

_Anonymous_

Vanessa laughed as she looked at the letter. She knew it was from Sarah. As soon as Sarah had told her that she hung out with Susie, she knew Susie knew about the Craig situation. So, therefore, Susie would declare revenge.

Which was actually laughable since all of Susie's ideas of revenge had no lasting effect on Vanessa. She had more important things to worry about. Like how she was going to talk to her mom about the whole adoption thing. That wasn't a conversation that she thought she could just bring up randomly. She could just imagine how that one would go.

_One day while sitting at the dinner table (assuming that they all actually sat and ate dinner at the same time, which never happened) and looking all "Leave it To Beaver", Vanessa decides to bring her concern up._

"_Golly gee mom, I discovered something the other day when I was just cleaning out the garage for fun," Vanessa cheerfully said._

"_Oh, honey, what was it?" her mom responded, giving her full attention as her daughter talked._

"_It was adoption papers," Vanessa answered._

"_Honey, we weren't ready for you to find those yet," her mom shook her head in sadness in failure of her own mother skills, "but we want you to know that we love you no matter whose daughter you really are."_

"_I know mom," Vanessa graciously said, getting up and giving both her mom and her dad big hugs, "I just thought I should tell you I found out."_

"_Oh sweetheart, we love you," Carmen smiled at her daughter._ _And they all go back to eating dinner._

She had her doubts about the conversation going like that. In fact, she didn't even know if she could keep her mom's attention long enough to tell her that she knew about it. What a fun time she had ahead of her.

---

Bailey ran up to Jennifer, Madison, and Beth in the arts and crafts tent.

"I need to talk to you," she muttered to them.

"We'll talk at break in five minutes," Madison told her, looking at her watch. Bailey uncomfortably nodded and began to try to do as much arts and crafts as she could in the five minute time period.

After the five minutes was up the four quickly found a quiet place to sit and talk. Beth and the other turned curiously to Bailey.

"What exactly did you need to tell us?" Beth asked.

"I was leaving the bathroom earlier and I heard Scott and Shannon fighting," Bailey quickly told them, looking around to make sure no one was there, "and then Shannon asked him to tell her that he loved her. And he couldn't do it. I think they broke up or are going to break up soon."

"Oh, and that's so exciting," Madison squealed. The others looked at her, "well ... that way you can win him over at the dance on Friday."

"I totally forgot about the dance," Bailey admitted.

"I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes what she lost," Jennifer grinned.

"First, I don't even have the guy," Bailey pointed out, "and second, the poor girl looked heart broken. How would you feel if a guy couldn't say he loved you?"

The other three just looked at her like she was crazy. Then Madison spoke up, "You are too nice for your own good. Way too nice."

---

Sarah took a deep breath and walked into the room. She saw a person who must be the editor sitting at a desk. She briskly walked up to him. He glanced up at her.

"Sorry," he absentmindedly said, "the slots on the paper are already full."

"Hey," Sarah said, trying to turn her flirtatious voice on, but sounded more nervous than anything, "I actually came to see you."

The editor looked up again, and then briskly asked, "Do I know you?"

Knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with trying to flirt with this boy she sighed. No wonder Susie and him didn't get along. He was a no nonsense guy, and Susie, well, she was full of nonsense. Much like Sarah herself.

"Okay, look," Sarah decided to just lay it out to him, "I'm supposed to be all flirty with you."

"Why?" the editor quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Because I am supposed to try and convince you to kick Vanessa off your newspaper," she flatly told him. The boy looked at her disdainfully.

"First of all, what could possibly make you think that I would kick one of my prize newspaper writers off the staff just because you flirted with me? Two, not only is she one of my best writers, she is also one of my best friends. And three, who exactly are you to come up to me and do this?" the editor coldly asked her.

"I ... I'm friends with Susie," she muttered, feeling ashamed.

"Oh dear Lord that explains everything," the boy snapped, "wait, haven't I seen you around town with Carlos?"

"Yeah, we're dating," she casually told him.

"Good luck with that one," he muttered before getting back to his work. About a minute later he looked back up at her slowly, "I'm pretty sure that our conversation is over."

Sarah walked out of the newspaper room with red cheeks. She had never been that embarrassed in her life. Yet, she couldn't help but think about what he said about Carlos. That was now the second person to warn her, well, he didn't really warn her, but he seemed too kind of, about him. On the other hand, Susie and the rest of the girls just droned on about what a catch he was. So, was he a catch, or was he a bum?


	10. Chapter Nine

"_Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."_

_-Hannah Arendt_

Chapter Nine

"You guys, I have no idea what shirt to wear," Bailey complained as they were getting ready for the dance. The minute the words came out of her mouth, she immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. She had never, ever in her entire life thought let alone utter something so, so completely girly before.

She was hoping her new friends hadn't heard her, but from the looks on their faces as they turned to her, they had.

"What in the world did you just say?" Madison calmly asked her.

"Somebody is hoping to get the hook-up tonight," Beth added in, turning back to the mirror to finish applying some make-up. As she said that, Shannon entered the bathroom.

"Better not be with Scott," Shannon sneered at Bailey, "because he will once again be mine tonight."

"I thought you two broke up," Madison's bemused voice spoke up.

"Oh we did, but mark my words, we will be back together by the end of tonight," Shannon informed her. With that, she swirled out of the room.

"I think I liked her better depressed," Jennifer muttered.

For the last two days Shannon had been so depressed that she didn't want to do anything. Everyone else assured her that it was better that way for Shannon, but Bailey couldn't help but feel really bad for her. Not to mention the fact that she had the feeling Scott had been avoiding her. Maybe tonight he really was planning on winning his ex-girlfriend back.

---

"You do realize that you are going to have to talk to your parents sooner or later, right?" Craig asked Vanessa nonchalantly as they sat at one of the tables outside of the sno cone place.

Craig and Vanessa had been getting a lot of sno cones recently. As of right now, Craig was the only one who happened to know that Vanessa was adopted and that Vanessa knew that she was adopted. Vanessa had come to rely on him to talk about this major part of her life. She wanted advice on how to deal with it all, and while not really giving much advice, Craig gave her plenty of time to talk about it.

"I know," Vanessa sighed, "but I keep playing the scene over in my mind, and I think that the chances of me actually getting through to my mom or my dad that I know about it are slim."

"What are you talking about?" Craig asked, "your parents aren't stupid."

"No, their not," Vanessa admitted, frustrated, "just, for the past couple of years, the three of us have gotten so caught up in our own lives that we barely have time to sit down and actually have a conversation anymore."

"So, do you think maybe that's what's bugging you more?" Craig quietly asked, "Are you afraid that maybe your parents don't really love you the way that they would their own kid? And you use as evidence the fact that you guys haven't had a real conversation in awhile."

Vanessa looked away from Craig at that time. She knew he was right. It was totally irrational for her to even be thinking this way. Heck, she even knew the advice that she would give somebody else in her situation, _"Just talk to your parents. The chances are that if you are this worried about them knowing then they really love you. Remember also that family are those who are there for you, not necessarily those whose genes are in your body."_

But, if it was so easy to give that advice to somebody else, why couldn't she use it on herself?

---

"Lainey, you want to go and get some food?" Margaret asked as she quickly appeared in the doorway of the room Lainey was using. Lainey silently shook her head and buried herself back under the covers.

Lainey looked about like she felt. She couldn't believe that she had fought with her best friend. Over a guy especially. Of course, the guy was Marcus. Lainey's crush. Most of her life in junior high and the first part of her high school career had been built around how she was going to approach Marcus. And she finally had. And it had been good for about nine hours. Then it all went downhill faster than she could even say, "I like Marcus."

Fitting the pieces together hadn't been that hard after she had left Rachelle's in a huff. Of course Donny would have been nice to her at the airport if he knew Marcus was going to break the news to her. Of course Rachelle would want to use the phone away from them. She was dating him, who wouldn't want to talk to their boyfriend away from the group?

Lainey never wanted to get out of bed again.

---

"Hey Sarah," Vanessa greeted evenly as Sarah came into McDonald's.

Sarah was a complete wreck. She had stayed up half the night wondering who was right about Carlos. I mean ... Susie and the others hadn't ever given her reason not to trust them, but Vanessa and the editor guy just seemed more like the trustworthy types. Which confused her, because if Carlos was really a bad guy surely Susie and the others would know and tell her. Right?

But Sarah had a sinking feeling that she was wrong about that.

"Hey," she mumbled in return.

"So, did you have fun flirting with Seth?" Vanessa asked her, an amused spark in her eyes.

"Seth?" Sarah inquired.

"Newspaper editor," Vanessa filled her in, "he called me this morning to tell me about some girl calling to try and get me kicked off the newspaper."

"I'm so sorry," Sarah gushed, "I never meant to actually ...,"

"It's okay," Vanessa waved off, "most people get sucked into the web that is Susie. I mean, how were you to be any different?"

She then turned away from the cash register, giving one of her co-employees a look, and he then stepped up to the register.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Sarah opened her mouth before quickly shutting it and running out of McDonald's.

---

Bailey looked down at her outfit before turning to her friends.

"No way," she protested.

"You're the one who didn't know what to wear," Jennifer said, amusement in her voice.

"But I didn't say I wanted to dress like a skank," Bailey explained.

"You are so not dressed like a skank," Maddie rolled her eyes, "so what if you're showing a little bit of skin. You look hot. Especially with those jeans on."

Bailey looked down at her outfit once again. She was wearing the traveling pants and a shirt that she had borrowed (against her will) from Maddie. The shirt was a black haltertop that tied around the neck in the back. She also had to wear some of Maddie's black high heels to compliment the outfit. Throw in the big black necklace and earrings and she was fully equipped. Or so they told her. Bailey personally couldn't see how walking around in high heels when she could barely walk in tennis shoes was going to help her win Scott over. Unless she fell into his arms. Which ... actually didn't seem like that bad of an idea.

"Let's just go," Bailey muttered before she could change her mind about the outfit. The other three did silent cheers before they left the cabin.

"You guys, I have another problem," Bailey said right before they entered the dance. Maddie, Jennifer, and Beth turned to look at her.

"Yeah?" Maddie asked, worried.

"I have no idea how to dance," Bailey warned them.

"Well, it's a little late for that one," Beth pointed out, "we can't teach you to dance in, like, two seconds."

"Thanks guys," Bailey murmured to herself as she pushed open the big doors and walked through to the gym.

---

Vanessa saw her mom sitting at the kitchen table when she got home. She decided that now was as good a time to talk to her mom as any. She knew that if she kept holding this in then it would nag away at her all summer until she couldn't properly function anymore. And here was her chance. Her mom was actually here.

"Hey mom," Vanessa greeted, sitting down with her at the kitchen table.

"Hey Ness," her mom smiled back, looking up from her work for about a second at her daughter.

"Can I talk to you mom?" Vanessa hurriedly asked.

"Well, sweetheart, I'm kind of busy," Carmen told her, a slight raise in her voice as she answered her daughter. Vanessa knew that she should just let it rest, but she couldn't. She had to talk to her mom about it.

"Mom ... this is really important," Vanessa protested.

"Ness, look, I don't have time for your petty teenager issues right now. We'll talk later," Carmen dismissed. Vanessa quickly stood up and ran upstairs to her room.

Before she could stop herself, she punched her wall. She looked startled at the wall. She had never been one to express many emotions before, and here she was punching her wall just because of this stupid adoption. As if on command, Vanessa picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"Hey Craig ... you want to go get some food?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.

---

"May I have this dance?" a voice behind Bailey spoke up about five minutes into the dance. She turned around and noticed Scott standing behind her. She gave him a smile as a sense of relief watched over her. So, he hadn't been avoiding her.

"My dancing skills aren't exactly up to par," Bailey admitted to the boy who was now offering her his hand.

"It's okay," he assured, grabbing her hand and leading her to the dance floor, "it's a slow song. They are always the easiest."

"May I cut in?" a voice nastily asked before the two had even started dancing. Bailey looked up to see Shannon standing in front of her.

"Can't you see I'm dancing with Double B?" Scott asked her, irritated. Shannon looked between the two and quickly exited the gym. Scott then turned back to Bailey and asked, "so, where were we?"

"I ... I can't," Bailey muttered.

"What, why not?" Scott asked, a bewildered expression crossing his face.

"Because Shannon is hurting," Bailey explained.

"You do realize that she has been waiting to relish in your hurting this whole time at camp and your telling me that you don't like the fact that she's hurting?" Scott seemed stunned.

"I'm sorry," Bailey muttered before heading out of the gym after Shannon. After about two seconds she spotted her underneath a tree near the cabins.

"Hey Shannon," Bailey said carefully as she approached the crying girl.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Shannon asked, through her tears.

"I'm sorry," Bailey told her, "I never meant to upset you. I ... I didn't mean for you and Scott to break up."

"Of course you didn't," Shannon waved off, "It's not like everybody in this camp wasn't cheering when it happened. They all hate me."

"Probably because you are such a jerk to them," Bailey pointed out.

"And you don't hate me?" Shannon asked, a smile crossing her face. Bailey was taken aback by the fact that this seemed to be the first real smile that had crossed Shannon's face.

"Nah," Bailey announced, "I'm too nice to hate you."


	11. Chapter Ten

"_If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots."_

_-Napoleon Bonaparte_

Chapter Ten

"So, where are we heading to tonight?" Sarah casually asked Carlos as she climbed into his car. He sent her a grin.

"Well ... I assumed that we'd go attend that party over at Michael's house," Carlos informed her, "unless you don't want to."

"No ... no of course I do," Sarah hastily said. There was something telling her not to be alone with Carlos right now. And the party seemed the perfect place for the two of them to be together, yet also apart.

"Sounds good then," Carlos flashed her a smile. Then he must have noticed the look on her face because he proceeded to ask her with a voice of concern, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sarah muttered. She couldn't help but think that if Carlos was as really as bad as she had heard than he wouldn't be worried about her right now. This actually helped to calm her nerves.

---

"Lainey, you have to get up," Margaret commanded two days after the fiasco at Rachelle's house had happened. Lainey had yet to get out of the bed for more than an hour at the time. She still refused to even leave the house.

"You don't have to be my friend," Lainey replied hollowly, "if you want to go back to Rachelle's side, I'll understand."

"What are you talking about?" Margaret asked, bewildered, as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well, being here, choosing my side, is going to totally ruin your status at school, and I'm not going to be there next year to help keep it up," Lainey explained.

"Do you really think I care about that?" Margaret sharply asked, "do you not remember previous fights in our group, you and Rachelle were always on the same side, leaving us unpopular girls to fend for ourselves."

Lainey smiled up at her. She had never realized how great of a friend Margaret was until right now. At first, she just thought Margaret had lost her mind in allowing Lainey to stay at her house. That was automatically picking sides. And not even with the person whose side it would be beneficial to be on. Not to mention the fact that here she was right now making Lainey feel totally incompetent in the ways of a true friend. However, she was still being constantly bugged by the friendship factor of her former home by one thing.

"Is it just you and me?" Lainey sadly asked her friend. She would really like more people on her side within her group.

The look, however, on Margaret's face was enough to give Lainey her answer. An answer that she had known, but had held out hope that she was wrong.

---

"You gave up a perfect opportunity to dance with Scott to go comfort Shannon?" Madison asked that night as her, Bailey, Beth, and Jennifer sat on the front porch of the cabin.

Bailey looked between the three girls. The expressions on their faces seemed to give away way too much of their feelings. Beth was giving her a look that was crossed between pity, which she could only assume was pity for her naivety, and anger, for Beth had been hoping for the day that Scott would sweep Bailey off her feet all summer. Madison just looked plain confused, as if she didn't understand why in the world Bailey would give up a chance with a guy that she knew she liked to help an enemy that she sure as heck didn't like. Jennifer's expression was the most helpful, she looked like she understood. It seemed like she had once been torn between the same emotions that Bailey herself was. A deep liking of a guy that she barely knew against an intense feeling of guilt towards someone she did not like very much.

"I just had to," Bailey quietly answered.

"No, you just have to go to the bathroom, you just have to sleep, you just have to eat, but, under no circumstances, whatsoever, do you ever have to go and comfort Shannon," Beth ranted, "Shannon who has wanted you to just make a fool of yourself and for everybody in camp to hate you since the first day. Shannon who dated Scott, who is the guy you like. Shannon, who, for Heaven sake's, is Shannon."

"And Scott couldn't tell her 'I love you'," Bailey calmly replied back, "Scott decided that he was done with her."

"You know what I think?" Beth asked. Before Bailey could respond, Beth proceeded to tell her exactly what she thought, "I think you are afraid of a relationship. You said yourself that you don't have many friends back home, never had a boyfriend. You are afraid that your hearts going to be broken."

Jennifer had remained quiet through the whole conversation, so, on instinct Bailey turned to Jennifer to seek assistance, but Jennifer seemed to be avoiding eye contact with everybody. Obviously she did not want to be associated with any one view on this highly controversial issue at the camp.

"That is not true," Bailey heatedly answered. Even though, deep down she knew Beth had a point.

---

Craig put an arm around Vanessa's shoulder. He then smiled down at her.

"You do realize that your parents love you, right?" Craig asked, a look of worry shining through his eyes.

"I know it with my mind, but sometimes my heart has a hard time following my mind," Vanessa admitted. She then gave him a watery smile.

"Who would've ever thought we would be friends?" Craig teased her.

"I know, I mean the last time I saw you had to have been like ...," Vanessa trailed off.

"I would say about six years ago," Craig thoughtfully answered. Vanessa looked at him like he was crazy, "well, it was Christmas when I was around twelve was the last time we all got together. Because I remember when you guys all came up that week I was pretty excited that I was going to be gone at soccer camp that week."

"Oh yeah," Vanessa giggled, "I remember that we went in and hid all your shoes around the house. I think that was our one bonding moment the whole trip."

"I had the hardest time finding those shoes," Craig muttered to her.

"It was truly fun though," Vanessa protested, "if you would have been there, you would have found it hilarious."

"Well, I'm glad my shoes brought you closer together," Craig rolled his eyes at the girl next to him.

"Well, I'm glad my adoption brought us closer together," Vanessa winked up at him, before skipping ahead of him, "come on, let's play in the park."

"You are one crazy girl," Craig yelled at her retreating figure, before following her to the park.

---

"Sarah, how many of those have you had?" Susie asked, an amused expression on her face as she saw Sarah pick up another cup of beer.

"I don't know," Sarah shrugged, then held four fingers. Then changed her mind and held up two more, "maybe that many."

She was really trying to wash away the fact that as soon as they had gotten to the party, Carlos had asked her if she wanted to go into a room. And not feeling entirely comfortable with the idea, she had turned him down. Then he had left to go say hi to some friends and never returned. She figured that she had really made him mad by not going into the room with him.

"I'm going to go find Carlos," Susie told her, before walking off. Sarah vaguely wondered why Susie would go and find Carlos.

---

"Okay, Lainey, lets go," Margaret said, an encouraging tone in her voice, as the two of them walked out of Margaret's house. Lainey looked up at the sun. She really didn't want to admit it, but she had missed being outside. Outdoors was the place where she thrived. She got to run, play soccer, swim, and see nature out here.

"Let's just go back in the house," Lainey suddenly spoke up.

"No way," Margaret firmly said, pulling Lainey around the corner of the house, "I have a surprise for you."

As they finished rounding the corner, Lainey noticed two familiar people sitting on the hood of Margaret's car. Before anybody could say anything, Lainey had run to the two boys and jumped into their arms.

"I guess your glad to see us," Nick ventured a guess, a smile upon his face.

"You guys have no idea how much I love you," Lainey gushed. She then gave each of them a quick kiss on the cheek, first Nick, then Donny.

"But, why are you here?" she confusedly asked.

"Well ...," Donny started, "we didn't think what Rachelle and Marcus did to you was very nice. I was trying to get Marcus to tell you up until the point you made out with him. So, it wasn't like it was a foreign concept that you liked him. Plus, I hate seeing my favorite girl depressed."

"Flirting with me will definitely not be permitted right now," Lainey firmly established, then settled herself between the two boys, "so, who's up for a game of soccer?"

---

Carlos led Sarah up to one of the rooms upstairs. Sarah could vaguely remember telling Carlos that she didn't want to go into a room earlier that evening.

"Hey baby," Carlos whispered, pulling her close to give her a kiss, "you look so hot."

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself," Sarah giggled. Carlos led them to the bed and gently laid down with her, making out some more.

"Carlos, I think we should stop now," Sarah protested. However, Carlos seemed not to hear her as his hands slid farther up her shirt.

---

Lainey merrily kicked the ball down the court. After drawing straws, it had been decided that her and Nick would be playing against Donny and Margaret. Which actually made their teams pretty evenly matched because both Donny and Lainey were really good, while Margaret and Nick were mediocre. She didn't think that she could ever have this much fun while consciously knowing that she had lost her best friend.

Lainey narrowly made a goal, causing Donny to fall face first into the ground while trying to block the shot. Lainey was half a laughing at Donny for how ridiculous he looked and half cheering at her victory of a soccer goal when Nick and Margaret joined the duo, laughing as hard as Lainey had been. Lainey thought that this was one of the best moments of her life.

---

Carlos left the room right after he had finished with her. All Sarah could do was wrap her arms around her legs, and silently cry to herself. Why had he done this to her? He had seemed so nice. Well ... he was so nice at some points in time. And now he had done this.

She should have listened to Vanessa's warning. Should have listened that gut instinct telling her to not go near him.

She just sat there, arms wrapped around her legs, silently sobbing, rocking back and forth. Today was definitely the worst night of her entire life.


	12. Chapter Eleven

"_All you want to do is stay in bed. But if you do that you'll be missing the world because it doesn't stop turning whatever you heard."_

_-The Cure_

Chapter Eleven

"Sarah!" a voice yelled up the stairs at her. She quickly turned over in her bed, but kept her eyes shut.

"Yeah mom?" she weakly called to her mother. She could hear her mother's descending stairs and vaguely thought about rising so as not to look suspicious.

"You got a package," Lena calmly told her, throwing the package on the bed, "are you going to get up at all today?"

Sarah didn't know how to answer her mom. Because she very much did not want to get up today. This morning she had woken up, thinking last night had been a dream. More of a nightmare really. But, when she figured out it was all true and everything had happened, she didn't want to ever leave the house again. Carlos had ... she had ... and she firmly didn't want to talk about it. With herself, or with anybody else.

"Nah, I think I'll stay in bed today," Sarah smiled up at her mom, trying to look upbeat.

"Suit yourself," Lena shrugged. She then exited the room, leaving Sarah on her own again. Sarah looked down at the package and knew immediately that it was the pants.

"I don't deserve you," Sarah calmly told the pants as she climbed out of bed, "I really don't deserve you."

She started to pull on clothes, because, after all, she knew that she had no right to have these pants after what had happened last night.

---

"Bailey McBrian, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shannon cautiously approached their table at breakfast. All four girls, along with about half the cafeteria, looked up at them curiously.

"Sure," Bailey answered, even more cautious than Shannon had been. She wasn't really ready for a big attack of Shannon power. It was, after all, only nine in the morning.

The two quietly walked out of the cafeteria and sat on the porch of the building. Bailey sat on the top step, while Shannon took the seat right next to her. Bailey patiently waited while Shannon seemed to be trying to find the words to say. Bailey's mind ran through all the things that she thought Shannon might possibly want. Maybe she wanted to officially declare war on Bailey. Maybe she had poisoned her drink this morning and was just waiting to see her die. Maybe ...

"Thank you," Shannon softly spoke up before Bailey could think of any more maybe's. Bailey looked at her, a look of shock registering on her face.

"For what?" she dumbly asked.

"You know," Shannon shrugged uncomfortably, "for coming to comfort me last night. Even if you were stupid enough to pass up a dance with Scott to do it. Nobody has ever, like, tried to comfort me before. Well ... comfort me for real, not just out of fear that I'll drop them as a friend and ruin their life."

"Do people really do that?" Bailey asked, humor in her voice.

"Sure," Shannon easily answered, "they all believe I'm some sort of horrible controlling monster, and since it gets me what I want, I let them believe it."

"You do realize that is totally stupid?" Bailey asked, "I mean, you should know to search for real friends. Not just people who are scared of you and like you because you are popular."

"That is easier said than done, my friend," Shannon said, then covered her mouth, "not really meaning to call you my friend ... or anything like that."

"Relax Shannon," Bailey laughed, "we don't have to be friends. I promise."

"Good, because we definitely were not going to be friends forever or anything," Shannon haughtily said, flipping her hair, "I mean, we have nothing in common right? Well ... except for a like of Scott."

Bailey watched her walk away with a dismayed look on her face.

---

Lainey smiled as she made her way down the street. The past couple of days had really opened her eyes to how stupid their group had been before. Every time the group split up, they had always chosen the same sides: Margaret, Lacey, Donny, and Matt against herself, Rachelle, Marcus, and Nick. And now the normal groups had been divided in half and stuck together. She had yet to see anybody else that was on the opposing side, but knew, without a doubt, that not seeing them was definitely for the best. She did not need another nervous breakdown.

But, Lainey's life had always gone to show that she thought and spoke too soon. And this was making itself very clear as she watched a group of four people leave the local convenience store. She quickly ducked behind another building, to were they couldn't see or hear her, but she could see and hear them.

"I can't believe that she's still here," Rachelle drawled, while Marcus's arm was around her. The two had apparently decided to officially be declared a couple.

"Will you give it a rest?" Matt asked her, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rachelle told him coldly, "would you like to go join her side?"

"No, no I'm fine," Matt muttered.

So, Lainey thought, they aren't totally hating me right now ... except for Rachelle.

---

Vanessa looked at her computer. She willed herself to write something, anything. She was trying to write advice to a letter that she had gotten last year, but had been unable to give advice in the school paper. She was now using it as a source for her application to a prestigious journalism week in November. But, all she could think of was the fact that there was no way she could write advice when she herself was unable to face her own difficulties.

She finally gave up, turned off her computer and walked downstairs. She saw Bridget and her mom sitting in the kitchen.

"So, have you told her yet?" Bridget quietly asked Carmen

"No, and I don't know if I can," Carmen admitted, "she's just so practical, she's not like me at all. Not to mention the fact that we haven't even been a real family lately."

Vanessa wondered if they were talking about her being adopted right now. That would be great if she could just bust in and say that she already knew, she just wanted to know why Carmen felt she couldn't tell her.

"Don't you think you should tell her she's adopted before you tell her that her birth parents want to meet her?" Bridget pointed out.

Vanessa could feel her breath catch. Her birth parents wanted to meet her? How well of a conversation would that be between her and her mother?

"Hey honey, you are adopted," she could hear her mother saying, "and you are totally going to go meet your birth parents this weekend."

Vanessa couldn't stay in the house any longer and ran out as fast as she could.

---

"I still think you are crazy," Madison informed her as they were in the arts and crafts tent later, "but apparently you must have done something good if she doesn't want to totally kick you off the face of this earth anymore."

"Thanks," Bailey grinned, "I think we're actually going to be cool the rest of this summer."

"Hey Bailey," Shannon said cordially as she passed the table, still shooting Beth, Madison, and Jennifer death glares.

"Maybe she could be nicer to you guys too," Bailey offered. Beth snorted.

"My problems with Shannon stretch farther than just this year kid," Beth informed her, "but whatever, if you don't hook up with Scott by the end of the summer, I am never writing you next year. Never."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Bailey asked her, smiling.

"Shut up," Beth angrily said, "do your stupid craft."

"Yes master," Bailey replied. But, then she caught sight of Scott walking across the grass and smiled. She was still trying to figure out herself why she had left dancing with Scott. Why would she do that?

---

Vanessa pounded on the door at Craig's house. She didn't know why she had come over here. It wasn't that big of a deal. Or, at least that was what she kept telling herself. Craig opened the door and looked fairly surprised to see her.

"I need to talk to you," Vanessa huffed. She hadn't even noticed that she had run all the way here. Craig quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her into his house, and quietly led her to his couch.

"What's the matter?" he soothed, putting one arm around her shoulder and stroking her hair with his other hand.

"I heard ... I heard my mom and your mom talking in my kitchen and they said that my adoptive parents want to meet me," Vanessa hadn't noticed that she had been crying until that very moment.

"Well, that's not a bad thing, is it?" Craig asked, confusion in his voice.

"It is too," Vanessa sobbed, "what happens if I meet them and they regret giving me up? Do I want to live the rest of my life knowing that my real birth parents decided too late that they wanted to keep me. Heck, I already have to live with the fact that my adoptive parents decided too late to tell me. Why can't they just tell me?"

"Um, honey, why are you holding a crying girl in your arms?" Bridget asked her son as she walked in the door, and then when she noticed the girl she quickly rephrased her question, "better yet, why are you holding a crying Vanessa in your arms?"

"She heard you and Carmen talking," Craig admitted to her. Vanessa quickly nodded to show that the statement was true.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry that you had to hear about your adoption that way," Bridget tried to sooth her, sitting down on the couch and rubbing her back.

"Actually," Vanessa said, between sobs, finally slowing down her crying, "I found out a while back. While I was cleaning the garage I found the papers. I didn't know how to tell my mom."

"You guys look pretty cozy," Bridget pointed out, looking at the two sitting on the couch, "how long have you guys been reacquainted?"

"Since the day I found out," Vanessa continued the story, now no longer crying, "I came over here to talk to you, but you weren't home. And our friendship kind of took off from there."

"Mom, tell her that Carmen and Chris love her very much," Craig demanded, his arm still around Vanessa, even though the crying was over.

Bridget looked taken aback for an instant before she answered, "Of course your parents love you. Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know, maybe it has to deal with the fact that when I wanted to talk to my mom about finding out, she blew me off," Vanessa started, "or maybe because we don't sit down as a family anymore, I don't see either of my parents for longer than about fifteen minutes a day, if that, and we're totally a messed up family."

"Oh sweetheart," Bridget said, drawing Vanessa into her arms, "I won't tell your mom about you knowing until you're ready to tell her."

"Thank you," Vanessa whispered to her.


	13. Chapter Twelve

_Author's Note: Okay, so this chapter really concentrates on the friendship growing between Sarah and Vanessa and the next chapter will focus a lot on Bailey and Lainey's friendship. Also, I could not find anywhere were it said what Paul's last name was, but in here when it says Sarah's last name, Paul is actually her father. And I'm sorry that I said adoptive parents instead of birth parents. I swear I read it like five times and never noticed. LOL. Sorry that these next couple of chapters are kind of fillers, but I fill that these are necessary for the story line, so enjoy!_

"_What lies before us and what lies behind us are tiny matters to what lies within us._"

Chapter Twelve

"Sarah, are you going to get out of bed today?" her mom called in irritation.

"Not really," Sarah shrugged off, "decided it definitely was not worth my time."

"What in the world is wrong with you?" Lena asked, concern filling her voice as she stepped into her daughter's room, "Susie and your other friends tried calling all day yesterday and already this morning and you won't answer any of their phone calls. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine mom," Sarah said, irritated, "Maybe I just didn't want to talk to any of them."

"Fine, you know what, whatever," Lena dismissed, "I want to help you. You are my daughter and I love you with all my heart, but since you don't seem to want to talk to me about anything, I'm leaving to go to work."

"Bye mom," Sarah half-heartedly said as her mom walked out the door.

Sarah always told her mom everything. But, she knew that she couldn't exactly tell her mom this big secret she had. And it was killing her inside. She needed somebody to tell. However, she'd already been through everybody that she could possibly tell. Her mom was definitely out of the question because she would freak out and want to kill Carlos, Susie and her clones were out because they thought Carlos was a great guy, Bailey was out because Sarah was sure that Bailey would have no idea how to react in that kind of situation, Lainey was out because she didn't seem like the kind of person who would worry too much about it. And then Vanessa ... who wouldn't be out except for the fact that she pretty much hated Sarah's guts right now. Not that Sarah could blame her. She had helped plan the revenge on Vanessa with Susie, and Vanessa had found out. So, here was Sarah, she had nobody, nobody cared, nobody would listen.

—

Vanessa hummed on her way down the stairs. She thought it was a beautiful morning and couldn't wait to spend the rest of the day outside. After getting back from Craig's house last night, she realized that the time to approach her parent's was now instead of later. She figured that she would do the seemingly impossible tomorrow night. She decided on tomorrow night because she needed a quick route to escape if the conversation got too difficult for her to continue. Lost in her train of thought, she suddenly tripped over something.

She quickly climbed to her feet, silently glad that no one was around to see that and looked at what she had tripped over. It was a package. She curiously picked up the package and noticed that the address label on it said "Sarah Phelps."

"Oh crap," Vanessa said out loud. She knew what had happened. Of course it had happened. She was expecting to happen. But, instead of giving Sarah a real warning she decided to be petty all because of one stupid thing Sarah had done to her. She quickly ran back upstairs to grab some shoes. She had to go try and fix this. Try to be the adult that she knew she could be.

The irony of the fact that Vanessa had spend the first sixteen years of her life being mature and it all seem wasted now was not lost on her. This summer. This whole three weeks of summer she had been involved in had turned out to be the total opposite of what she would have expected. And she hadn't acted maturely about any of it.

—

Sarah curled up in her bed. Tears still present on the pillow. She couldn't tell when they were from. She'd been crying so much these last couple of days that she could never tell. She knew she had to do something. She couldn't stay here for the rest of her life. But, at least for today, the idea sounded pretty good.

"Sarah Ann Phelps," she heard someone say as they entered the house. It was definitely a girl's voice, but she knew that her mom already went to work. And Susie was probably mad enough at her that she would never come visit her. Heck, if Susie ever talked to her again it would be a miracle, then, before she knew it someone had pushed her bedroom door open, "these are for you."

And then Vanessa threw the package by her on the bed. Sarah did not even have to look at it to know what it was.

"I don't want them," she firmly stated.

"Sure you don't," Vanessa rolled her eyes, "it's your turn. You can't refuse to take them. It will unleash a curse on you."

"I'll take my chances," Sarah hollowly muttered. Sarah knew that one of the worst things had already happened to her. What else could a curse do to her?

"Tell me what happened," Vanessa demanded, sitting in Sarah's desk chair.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, bewildered.

"Come on, I know something happened," Vanessa sighed, "because you wouldn't give up the pants unless something happened. You might be the person who waited for the pants the most."

"Well ... the other night at the party, Carlos and I ...," Sarah started, but before she could finish Vanessa jumped up.

"Carlos and you?" Vanessa questioned, suspiciously, "Are you sure that it wasn't just Carlos? And you didn't want to be involved?"

"Of course I'm sure," Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Don't lie to me," Vanessa accused, "I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I have a pretty good idea about what happened then."

"I tried to tell him no," Sarah mumbled, tears welling up in her eyes. It was no use for her to try and lie to Vanessa. Vanessa definitely already knew what had happened, "but, he wouldn't listen. Vanessa ... I was so scared."

"Hey, its okay," Vanessa tried to sooth her, but not very effectively because she was pacing back and forth, "of course I'm too stupid. I should have warned you. I should have told you."

"Not like I would have listened to you anyways," Sarah softly told her.

"I could have made you listen," Vanessa muttered, "I knew what he was like ... I knew it."

"Wait, how did you know it?" Sarah questioned. Vanessa sighed and sat back in the chair.

"Okay, last year Carlos dated a sophomore named Natalie, after they had been going out for a couple of months, she told people that he had raped her when she refused to have sex with him," Vanessa explained, "immediately, the popular crowd turned it into a big joke and said that she was lying. They said that he had dumped her and she went crazy with grief about the break-up, so decided to make up some wild rumors about him to try and bring him down. And, of course, the rest of the school went along with it and didn't believe she was telling the truth. After all, how could perfect Carlos ever do anything like that?"

"But, what made you believe her?" Sarah asked.

"First, I don't put much stock in what the popular kids say to begin with. Second, I walked into the girls restroom one day and found her crying her eyes out," Vanessa softly said, "she was sitting on the floor of the bathroom stall, rocking back and forth. Someone had made a joke about the raping, and she had flipped. I have never, ever seen anybody that broken in my life. Until I walked into your room."

"Thanks," Sarah said sarcastically.

"Look, you have to tell the authorities," Vanessa urged her.

"I can't do that," Sarah protested, "it was my fault anyways. I got drunk, and then Susie went to go get Carlos to take me home ... I think."

"Susie what?" Vanessa coldly asked.

"Susie went and found Carlos," Sarah explained, and looking at Vanessa's face continued, "oh for goodness sakes, she didn't go find him so he could rape me. What kind of sick human does that?"

"What kind of sick person rapes somebody?" Vanessa pointed out.

"Look, you just told me about the last person that this happened too," Sarah quietly said, "and I don't want that to happen to me."

"Who cares if you lose your popularity if justice is done?" Vanessa harshly asked her.

"I'm sorry I can't be as strong as you are," Sarah snapped, "I really am."

Vanessa sighed, "No, I'm the one who should be sorry. You didn't do anything to me. You are the victim here. I should be comforting you. Do you need anything to eat? Something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine," Sarah gave her a faint smile, "but, I do have one favor to ask of you."

"Shoot," Vanessa easily responded.

"You can't tell anybody about this," Sarah plainly told her.

"What?" Vanessa asked, "Do you really think I would announce it down the streets or something?"

"No, but I don't want you to tell your mom or anything," Sarah muttered.

"My mom would have to be around long enough for me to tell her," Vanessa angrily said.

"You and your mom don't talk?" Sarah asked, surprised. She just assumed that everybody in the Second Generation of the Sisterhood was close with their mothers.

"She just doesn't seem to have time for me," Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly.

"Have you tried to talk to her?" Sarah suggested.

"I tried to tell her that I knew I was adopted, but she didn't listen," Vanessa stated, but then, after realizing who she was talking to, looked away from the girl.

"Wait, you're adopted?" Sarah asked, bewildered, "I would've never known."

"Well, I didn't know until I cleaned out the garage," Vanessa bitterly replied, "but it'll be okay. I mean, its not that big of a deal, right?"

"Yeah, Carmen still loves you," Sarah said, "she loves you like crazy."

"Man I hope Lainey and Bailey are having better summers than we are," Vanessa shook her head, changing the subject.

"True that," Sarah replied, "you know what we should do tonight Vanessa?"

"What?" Vanessa asked.

"Have a sleep over," Sarah excitedly said, "I don't really like being alone in the dark, and plus, we can talk some more."

"Sounds like a plan," Vanessa grinned back at her, "but, Sarah, you do know that I'm here for you if you ever need to have a serious talk about what happened, right?"

"I know," Sarah said quietly, "You're a great person."

"By the end of the sleep over, not only will I be a great person, but I will also be a great friend," Vanessa assured her, "I think we'll be great friends."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Author's Note: Okay, so this is supposed to be the last filler chapter. After this all the fun stuff will start back up. Since all of last chapter concentrated on Sarah and Vanessa, Lainey and Bailey are the only two main characters in this chapter. So, I hope you enjoy!

"_Love takes up where knowledge leaves off."_

_-Saint Thomas Aquinas_

Chapter Thirteen

"Hey Bailey, can I talk to you?" she heard a voice speak up behind her. She turned to see Scott standing there, looking slightly shy. Which struck Bailey as odd, because there was no way that Scott was shy about anything.

"Sure," Bailey warmly said, turning back to the blade of grass she had been messing with. Bailey had been enjoying their afternoon break by sitting down and daydreaming. Scott's appearance had foiled her plan, but she was, in no way, upset about the interruption as Scott plopped down next to her.

"So, I heard the most interesting rumor the other day," Scott said conversationally, but before Bailey could reply, he continued, "I heard that you passed up an opportunity to dance with me, the boy that everybody loves, to go comfort Shannon."

"Some rumors are true you know," Bailey offered, carefully avoiding his eyes.

"Are you a lesbian?" Scott asked seriously. Bailey hit him on the arm.

"I am in no way a lesbian," Bailey said, offended. And a little hurt that Scott would think that, "why would you even say that?"

"I just can't think of any other reason that any girl would pass up an opportunity to dance with the most sought after boy at camp," Scott said confidently. This made Bailey feel a little better, knowing that it was just Scott's conceited nature, not his actually thinking of her as a lesbian. Plus, Scott seemed even cuter when he was conceited. If that was even possible at all.

"Maybe because not everybody wants you," Bailey coolly told him. If he could make the comment about her being a lesbian, she could make that comment. Or at least she hoped she could. Because she really didn't want Scott to be mad at her.

"Are you saying you don't want me?" Scott asked, pretending to be hurt.

"I never said that," Bailey smiled, "I just said maybe not everybody wants you."

Bailey then got up to leave, but before she got too far she could hear Scott yelling her name. She turned back around to see what he had to say.

"I'm glad you are not a lesbian," he admitted. Then, he winked at her before she turned around to head back to her cabin.

—

Bailey could not stop smiling all day. She admitted, at least to herself, that she had successfully flirted with Scott earlier today. But, did Scott really like her or did he just have a habit of flirting? And how exactly do you get into a relationship? How do you handle a relationship once you are actually in one? These were all questions that were running around in Bailey's mind. She was also running up short on who to ask advice from. She didn't want to talk to any of her camp friends because they would tease her endlessly about the potential relationship between Scott and Bailey. She needed a real, honest opinion.

Then, all of a sudden, she remembered the letter she had been sent by Lainey when she got the pants and quickly ran back to her cabin. The four girls had exchanged addresses to send the pants to, and maybe she could get some real advice from Lainey. As she reached her cabin, she realized how much power the pants actually held. Before this summer, Bailey would never, ever have thought to write or ask for advice from Lainey. The pants were truly amazing.

—

_Lainey,_

_Hey, how are you? I didn't know exactly how to address you in the opening ... so I just used your name. Anyways, this might be slightly (or a lot) surprising to you. I mean, this letter and all. But, I have come to seek some guidance. I need some advice on something, and if you would be willing to help me, that would be great, but if you don't want to, I could also understand. Anyways, if you would like to, please give me a call at 555-4343, and then ask for Bailey McBrian._

_Thanks,_

_Bailey_

Lainey flipped the letter over in her hand, trying to decide whether or not the whole thing was a joke. I mean, why else would Bailey want to talk to her? But, she knew Bailey wasn't like that, which just left one answer: she really did need advice. And since she had sparked Lainey's curiosity, Lainey went into her old house to call Bailey.

She was still collecting mail from her old house, because they hadn't sold it yet. They would totally be cut off from this old mailbox when she moved back home in August. She hadn't really been expecting anything, so the letter from Bailey had caught her by surprise.

She dialed the phone number and was taken by surprise when on the first ring somebody answered the phone with the greeting, "Hi, this is Camp Teens line for parents and friends, which camper would you like to speak too?"

"Bailey McBrian," Lainey easily answered. About five minutes later, she could hear somebody grab the phone. This person seemed to be out of breath.

"Bailey?" Lainey ventured a guess.

"Hey Lainey," Bailey replied, sitting down in a chair to catch her breath as she talked on the phone, "how's your summer?"

"Not too bad," Lainey admitted. Her summer had really been turning around when she quit filling sorry for herself.

"That's good," Bailey vaguely replied. She didn't want to bring up her advice issues first. It might seem rude.

"So, what's this advice you need to ask me?" Lainey cut straight to the point.

"It's about a boy," Bailey admitted.

"I don't know if I'm the right person to give you advice on a boy right now," Lainey responded. Bailey registered a hint of bitterness in her voice and promised herself to get back to it later.

"Please, could you just try?" Bailey asked, "I'm begging you."

"Hmmm ... I don't think I've ever had anybody beg for my advice before," Lainey thoughtfully said, "so, go ahead and shoot."

"See, I like this boy and I don't know if he likes me," Bailey started, then took a deep breath, "I mean, he broke up with his girlfriend recently and I have this feeling that I played a big role in their break-up, but I don't know if his feelings are sincere or if his ex-girlfriend is just paranoid. Not to mention the fact that we have flirted a couple of times, but he might just be the flirting type, you know what I mean?"

Lainey sat there in stunned silence for a few seconds before responding, "I think that is the most I have ever heard you talk before."

"Sorry," Bailey mumbled, her face flushing red.

"No, don't be," Lainey dismissed, "its just amusing that this whole summer camp is working for you. I would have never thought it."

"Yeah, me neither," Bailey admitted, "so, can you help me?"

"Well, unless this girl is the overly jealous type, a lot of girlfriends can tell when their boyfriends like someone else," Lainey said, "besides he must know what kind of person you are and if you like him so much, he should know not to toy with your emotions. However, some guys are just jerks like that."

"So, basically, you have no idea how to tell?" Bailey asked, a little downcast.

"Sorry," Lainey admitted, "I can usually judge better if I'm around the two people together. But, look Bailey, you seem like a person who makes smart decisions, and I'm assuming that if you are, then you would pick a guy who would not toy with your emotions."

"I think you are giving me too much credit," Bailey informed her.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've given someone too much credit," Lainey flippantly said.

"Are you okay?" Bailey gently asked her.

"I'm actually better than I have been in a long time," Lainey admitted, "my best friend is now dating the guy that I've had a crush on for years, but I really think that it was for the best, because now I'm getting closer to some of my other friends."

"I'm sorry," Bailey offered, "I know its got to be really hard."

"I thought it would be at first," Lainey shrugged, "but now I'm really okay. I'm actually having a good summer. Playing soccer pretty much everyday to keep up my muscles."

"I wonder if Sarah and Vanessa are having as good of summers as we are?" Bailey wondered aloud.

"I hope so," Lainey told her.

"One more question, what do I do if he really does like me?" Bailey asked.

"Let it happen in its own time," Lainey informed her, "learn from my mistakes, don't try to rush into anything."

"What do you mean?" Bailey asked.

"Before I found out that Rachelle and Marcus were going out, I made out with him," Lainey told her, "and the whole thing blew up in my face."

"That stinks," Bailey told her.

"Tell me about it,"Lainey couldn't help but grin.

"Oh, wait, my time's up on the phone," Bailey told her, "Thanks for calling me, even though the request was a little odd."

"Anytime," Lainey informed her, "bye."

After the two hung up the phone Lainey looked down at the phone she was holding in her hand. Today was the first time that she had admitted that she was actually having a great summer. The whole Rachelle/Marcus situation seemed to have been the end of her happiness in this town all together. But, the others had helped her realize that those two people weren't the key to her happiness. She was the own key to her happiness.

She was glad for the conversation with Bailey. Now she needed a way to truly thank the others for being there for her no matter what. Maybe a party would suffice. I mean, she still had enough power in this town to throw an awesome party. And nobody lived in her house anymore ... maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

The irony of the situation hadn't been lost on Lainey. Bailey, who barely had any friends before this summer, seemed to be the one Lainey trusted the most telling about how she lost some of her best friends. And Lainey, the one most experienced with guys, was telling Bailey that this guy probably liked her, while Lainey's own crush didn't even like her back. She had a feeling Bailey and herself were in for an interesting friendship.

—

Bailey was glad for the phone call with Lainey. Sure Lainey hadn't been able to give her a lot of advice, but she still felt better. If it seemed to Bailey that Scott liked her, and all of her friends here kept telling her that, maybe it was true. The whole waiting thing might just drive her crazy though.

Of course, this seemed to be a very good beginning to a friendship with Lainey. She could just imagine the looks on their mothers faces when the two came back friends from the summer.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

"_Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood."_

_-Walt Disney_

Chapter Fourteen

"Sarah!" Susie called up the stairs as she bound up them, "I think we so need to party tonight. I mean, I know about you and Carlos's break up, but you can't stay in here forever."

She entered into Sarah's room to see Sarah doing her make-up. Susie sat down on the edge of her bed.

"What is going on?" she quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing," Sarah flippantly said, walking to her closet, "now, do you think I should wear red or black?"

"So, you're telling me that Carlos broke up with you, you haven't answered my phone calls in, like, four days, and you are perfectly fine, even happy?" Susie asked, shocked.

"Well at first I wasn't," Sarah told her, "but then I realized that Carlos and I did not even date that long, so he really had no control over me, and I should move on. So, black or red?"

"Red," Susie answered, "but you're seriously okay?"

"Sure," Sarah shrugged.

"Where are you going tonight?" Susie asked her, suspiciously.

"Just going out with a couple of friends," Sarah nonchalantly answered.

"Wait, what friends do you have?" Susie responded, "you've been here for a very short time."

"Vanessa," Sarah told her.

"Wait, you're hanging out with Vanessa?" Susie narrowed her eyes, "you know I don't like her."

---

"There's a trip to town on Friday," Madison informed Bailey when she stepped back into the cabin.

Bailey couldn't help but smile. She loved this camp to death, but she was excited to be outside of the same places. Plus, they always took the campers to go get ice cream when they went to town. And Bailey loved ice cream.

"And the boys are coming with us," Beth continued, also entering the room. Bailey did not even have to ask which boys she was talking about, because if it had been any other boys, she wouldn't have mentioned it.

"Sweet," Madison informed her, "maybe we can finally get Bailey and Scott the alone time they deserve."

"Not with Shannon there," Bailey snorted, "she'll be hanging around him the whole time."

"True, but maybe we can distract her," Beth thoughtfully said, "we'll figure out something. The only thing you have to worry about Bailey is looking your absolute hottest."

"Maybe we should put someone on patrol of that," Madison cocked her head in Bailey's direction, "because she doesn't seem to care too much."

"True, I'll put Jennifer on top of that duty, I think she can handle the mess," Beth replied in a stage whisper. Bailey rolled her eyes.

"I am not going to get all 'hot' for a stupid guy," Bailey argued, "okay, maybe a little."

The two girls smiled at her, as if they knew all along that was what Bailey's response would be. But, Bailey reasoned, it probably was because her response was pretty obvious.

---

Lainey, Margaret, Donny, and Nick had all gone to the mall. After hitting a couple of neutral stores (the CD stores and the book/magazine stores) the group had decided to split up. Lainey and Margaret were going off to look at some clothes for the party that Lainey was going to throw in her new house at the end of the summer. It was still a couple weeks off, but it was totally cool to shop now. The boys were either off at the arcade (they played the games for hours) or at the sports store. The group was going to meet back up at the food court at four.

"So, what kind of dress do you think I should wear?" Lainey thoughtfully asked. This was one of the moments that she missed Rachelle the most. Rachelle and her had the same taste in clothes and pretty much the same size, so they could wear each others clothes and have a doubled wardrobe.

Not that Margaret had bad taste in clothes, she just tended to dress more conservatively than Lainey. And Lainey was sure that Margaret would tell her that whatever she wanted to wear looked a little too skanky.

"Any one you want," Margaret distractedly said, "what about this one?"

Lainey's mouth dropped one as Margaret pulled a dress from the rack. It was a short, black dress with a low cut line, and would look absolutely perfect on Lainey, she was sure. And here Margaret was actually picking it out. Lainey, however, shouldn't have been surprised about how well Margaret knew her, it seemed that this summer she had just now realized how much Margaret looked out for her.

"That is perfect," Lainey eagerly said, grabbing the dress to try it on.

"You're going to make me blush," Margaret laughed at her friend.

"Here you go," Lainey threw a dress at Margaret to try on. Lainey had always had good sense of what other people liked and would look good in it. So, it didn't surprise her at all when Margaret gasped in fascination at the dress she had thrown at her. It was a deep green, a little less than mid-length, with a modest cut, but still very cute and would compliment Margaret's green eyes very well.

As the girls walked out of the store talking animatedly, Margaret decided to take a quick bathroom break.

"Okay, I'll just be over in that shoe store," Lainey pointed out, "we can just meet there."

"Hello Lainey," a voice spoke up behind her as soon as Margaret disappeared into the bathroom. She spun around to see Marcus standing in front of her.

---

"Look, its not what you think it is," Sarah tried to tell Susie.

"So, you're not really hanging out with one of the people that I hate most in the world? Or is this part of some grander scheme that you have to bring her down?" Susie icily asked her, already knowing the answer to the question.

"She just really helped me through a hard time," Sarah explained.

"Your break-up with Carlos?" Susie coldly responded, "you knew you could have called me, but no, you went to her."

"I didn't go to her," Sarah sighed, "she was returning something to me, and happened to see me at one of my absolute worst moments, and then gave me some advice. This is my thank you to her."

"Your thank you to her is going out and hanging with her friends?" Susie cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Sarah snapped, finally sick of acting as if she cared what Susie thought of the whole situation.

"Actually, I do," Susie haughtily said, "I became your friend when no one else knew you. I introduced you to this town and how do you repay me? By becoming friends with the one person you ratted out. Not to mention the one person who you tried to get kicked off the newspaper."

"That was then, this is now," Sarah flippantly replied, "I've grown up a lot in the last couple of days. And I realized that the life style that you introduced me too, well, that is definitely not the kind of life style I want in this particular town.

Before Susie could respond at all, Sarah flipped her hair behind her and walked out the door. A smile crept up on her lips as she realized what she had just done. She had just done something that she had always thought impossible. She had stood up to the most popular girl in town and didn't even care if her status was ruined.

---

"Hey Marcus," Lainey tried to reply as coldly as she could. But, even she could sense the hint of warmth that came through. After all that she had been through with him and Rachelle, Marcus could still cause those butterflies to appear in her stomach.

"So, I've really missed having you around," he admitted, steering her to a table.

"Really?" Lainey laughed, "because I highly doubt that your girlfriend has."

"I wanted to tell you," Marcus insisted, "I tried to tell you at the night of the party, but then ...,"

"I kissed you and you decided that kissing back was better than telling me the truth?" Lainey asked, her voice fully cold at the question.

"Well ... it was the best kissing of my life," Marcus whispered, leaning closer to her.

"Except for when you were kissing my best friend the next morning," Lainey reminded him.

"She is my girlfriend," Marcus shrugged, seemingly a little annoyed.

"Exactly," Lainey rolled her eyes, "why are you sitting here telling me how much you like kissing me when you have a girlfriend?"

"Because I like you too," Marcus admitted.

"You can't like me when your dating my ex-best friend," Lainey snapped at her, "I am not like that."

"Whatever," Marcus snorted, "you made out with Lucas twice, even after you knew that he had a girlfriend."

"His girlfriend and I weren't friends," Lainey hurriedly said, "I said I wouldn't do it to one of my best friends."

"So, even though Rachelle went behind your back to date me, you won't do the same thing to her?" Marcus asked.

"No, I won't," Lainey haughtily said, "so, why don't you leave now before you get caught?"

"Fine," Marcus winked at her, "but, if you decide to change your mind about any of this, come and see me."

As soon as Marcus walked away she heard someone come up behind her, "Hey Lainey, I thought you were going to be at the shoe store."

"Sorry, got sidetracked," Lainey quickly said, "let's go."

Margaret gave her a strange look, but followed her to the store.

---

"She'll be here," Vanessa said, rolling her eyes at her friends impatience.

"I can't believe you are making me hang out with her when you know that I don't like her at all," Seth grumbled at her.

"Hey Vanessa, sorry I'm late," Sarah ran up to the table.

"Where were you?" Vanessa asked, scooting over so that she could make room for Sarah.

"Confrontation with Susie," Sarah explained.

"Fun," Vanessa smiled, "by the way, this is Craig (pointing to her left), I believe you already know Seth (pointing across the table) and my friend, Lisa (pointing right next to Seth)."

"Wait, you hang out with Craig?" Sarah asked, "how did that happen?"

"He's Bridget's son," Vanessa explained, "of course, I didn't know until after that night when we decided to pretend we were dating."

"That is so cool," Sarah giggled, "are you two dating?"

"Oh please don't bring that up," Lisa rolled her eyes, "they aren't going out. Yet."

"Yeah, its not like she's going around flirting with random guys," Seth said coldly.

"Seth!" Vanessa scolded him, "shut up. Let's go dance Craig."

As the two went to the dance floor, Sarah turned around and looked at Lisa and Seth, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"So ...," she tried to start a conversation.

"I'm going to go ask that guy if he wants to dance," Lisa interrupted, "have fun."

"Craig and Vanessa are definitely going to go out," Sarah informed Seth, trying to keep their conversation light.

"As long as somebody doesn't mess with them," Seth coldly answered.

"Look, I'm sorry about that whole flirting thing," Sarah sighed, "please can we just let it go."

"Fine," Seth said, begrudgingly, "but only so you can be friends with Vanessa. She could use a few good friends right now."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

"_I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway ... you rarely win, but sometimes you do."_

_-Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird_

Chapter Fifteen

"What is the matter with you?" Donny abruptly asked Lainey as he walked into her room.

"What do you mean?" Lainey asked, trying to sound like she had no idea what Donny was talking about. Of course, for the second time her voice betrayed what she really thought.

"Come on Lainey," Donny coaxed, sitting on the edge of the bed, "remember before you and Rachelle became best friends and you used to tell me everything."

"That was years ago," Lainey lightly replied.

"Yeah, but you can still tell me," Donny said, sounding slightly hurt, "Let me tell you, I never liked Rachelle. But, because I wanted to stay your friend, I joined the group."

"That's why you were always on the opposite side of me in fights," Lainey giggled, "I cried the first time our group had a fight and you didn't side with me."

"So, tell me what's going on," Donny pressured.

"I ran into Marcus when we were at the mall," Lainey finally gave up, "and he tried to hit on me. And I told him no, but how could I ever like someone like that Donny? He was willing to try and cheat on his girlfriend, my ex-best friend, with me."

"That's because he's a jerk," Donny told her, a matter-of-fact tone in his voice, "I mean, he did make out with you, even though he was supposed to tell you about the whole Rachelle thing."

"When did I get such crappy friends?" Lainey wondered aloud.

"What?" was Donny's hurt response.

"Not you," Lainey smiled at him, "you were always a good friend. I think I just lost you somewhere along the way. Along with Margaret and Nick."

She then leaned against him and he put his arm around her.

—

"Vanessa, you can do this," Vanessa gave herself a pep talk, "you have nothing to be afraid of."

"You're right you know," an amused voice spoke up behind her, "you have nothing to be afraid of."

"That's easier said than done," Vanessa informed Craig as she went to give him a hug, "what happens if she doesn't react at all?"

"You'll be fine," Craig tried to assure her, dropping a kiss on her forehead and turning to leave, "good luck."

Vanessa turned back to her mirror, slightly more distracted than she had been a few seconds ago. Being around Craig had that effect on her. She knew, however, that she had to do this. Right now. Today. If her mom didn't react at all, then she would get to that bridge when she crossed it. Her whole summer was going to be ruined if she didn't tell her mom soon. Plus, Bridget was starting to feel the strain from keeping the secret that Vanessa knew about the adoption from Carmen. She didn't want Bridget to accidently let it slip to her mom and then Carmen would be even more upset about the fact that Vanessa didn't tell her first.

So, Vanessa decided to make the most of it. She sighed and then heard her mom coming up the driveway. She slowly made her way downstairs, preparing herself for the inevitable.

—

Bailey looked around as she stepped off the bus in town. She was pretty sure it was going to be an exciting day. Not only did they get to leave camp grounds, but she got to spend the whole day around Scott. First, they were going to eat at a quaint little restaurant in town, and then they were pretty much going to be let loose at the local theme park. Pretty much as in they still had to stay in groups of six, with at least one boy in each group. Bailey didn't even have to go over the whole sexist thing, she was just hoping that Scott would be in her group.

"Come on Bailey, let's get this party started," Madison scooted past her to get into the restaurant, and whispered to her, "I bet you can't wait until the amusement park."

—

"Hey Craig," Sarah cheerily announced as he answered his door. She had decided to come over to see what Craig really thought about Vanessa. Sarah could only imagine the reaction that Lainey would have when she figured out that Craig and Vanessa liked each other, if that was even the case.

"Hi?" Craig greeted her, with a questioning tone as he moved over to let her in the house.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Pretty good," Craig answered. She sat on the couch and he took one of the big armchairs on the right of the couch, "how are you?"

"I'm okay," Sarah shrugged, "I actually have a couple of questions to ask you."

"Really?" Craig responded, sounding a little amused.

"Yeah, do you like Vanessa?" she blurted out.

"She's a good friend," Craig carefully answered. Sarah frowned at him.

"Does that mean you don't like her as more than a friend?" Sarah asked.

"No, I didn't say that," Craig said patiently, "but I don't think I should give you the information. Vanessa and I are no business to you, besides, shouldn't I be asking you if you are really friends with Vanessa? You are the one who has been untrustworthy."

"You're right," Sarah said softly, standing up and heading to the door, "I'll leave you alone. I just wanted to ask you one more question, how is your sister going to react if you guys do go out? Not saying you will or anything ... but if you did?"

Sarah then turned around and fled. She knew that she had given Craig plenty to think about. Should she ask Vanessa about this too? She didn't want to ruin Vanessa's happiness when she had so much else going on in her life, but she needed to think about it.

—

"Hey Bailey," Scott smiled at her as they exited the bus to the amusement park, "do you and your friends want to come with me and Matt?"

"We would love too," Jennifer answered for her as herself, Beth, Madison, and Matt joined them.

"Sweet," Matt said, grinning at Madison and the rest of them, "let's hit the roller coasters."

"Roller coasters?" Bailey asked, her smile faltering. She was not very fond of heights. And fast moving objects, "Um, can't we start with something else?"

"Why? Are you scared of roller coasters?" Beth teased.

"No ... yes ... I don't like heights," Bailey confessed.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun," Jennifer cheerfully told her, leading the group towards the first roller coaster.

"No it won't if we all fall off and die," Bailey muttered under her breath. Scott, who was standing next to her, heard her and let out a small laugh.

"I think the odds of that happening are very slim," he tried to assure her.

"Not if you're in Final Destination 3," she haughtily replied.

"Don't worry," Scott laughed again, "if you have a vision that we're all going to die, I will definitely get off the roller coaster with you."

"That's comforting," Bailey sarcastically said.

"Come on," Scott grabbed her hand, "I'll sit next to you and keep you company."

Madison and Matt were already climbing into the first car of the coaster. Beth and Jennifer hurried into the second car. Scott led a reluctant Bailey to the last car. Bailey strapped herself in and took a deep breath.

—

"Mom, dad, I need to talk to you," Vanessa stated as she reached her parents. Both were sitting down in the kitchen, papers surrounding them. At her statement, both parents looked up at her.

"Now isn't a good time," her mom tensely said.

"Mom, its never going to be a good time for me to talk to you," Vanessa calmly said, "so, either we do it now, or we don't do it all."

"Is that a threat?" her dad asked, "are you never going to talk to us again if we don't talk right now?"

"That's not what I meant," Vanessa said, trying to keep her voice calm, and much to her surprise, she was doing a very good job of it, "I just really need to tell you something. And I'm afraid if I don't tell you now then I will never tell you."

"How important could it possibly be that you have to tell us now?" her mom impatiently asked.

Vanessa was starting to lose her cool. How could her mom and dad just treat this so nonchalantly? If they had told her that they needed to talk to her then she would have been all ears. She knew that if she even thought about telling her parents that she didn't want to hear it that she would be in serious trouble. Of course, she knew that this was the whole parents are superior to their children. But, for the first time in her life, Vanessa was starting to feel a kick of rebellion rising up in her.

"So, you guys really don't care what I have to say?" she asked, biting the inside of her mouth until she tasted blood. She had to stay calm and collected.

"Honey," her dad said sympathetically, "its not that we don't want to hear what you have to say, its just that we're really busy right now, you understand, right?"

"Of course I understand," Vanessa said with forced calmness, "I'll just talk to you later."

"Thanks sweetheart," her mom smiled at her. Vanessa forced a smile and then made her way over to the refrigerator to grab a soda. She had to figure out what to do now. Should she just tell her parents anyways? Or should she just wait until later? If she waited until later, it might slip out at sometime, or Bridget might have a heart attack. Would her parents gets mad at her if she didn't tell them now? They didn't have any reason to get mad at her though, because she did try to tell them. Maybe it was just better for her to tell them now.

"Okay, I can't keep this in," Vanessa said in a fast voice as she walked back over to the table, "I've been trying to find the right time to tell you this, but I don't think it will ever be the right time for me to tell you because every time I try you say that you don't have the time. So, I'm going to just blurt it out: I know I'm adopted."

Before either of her parents could respond Vanessa ran out of the room and out of her house. The image in her mind was of her parents looking at her, dumbstruck.

—

Bailey stepped off the roller coaster and hurried to sit down on the nearest park bench. Scott hurriedly joined her as the others were getting off the roller coaster.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her, concerned for her.

"I never want to do that again," she said faintly, trying to suppress the tears of fear she could feel threatening to pour out.

"No, its fine, you definitely don't have to," he told her, smiling at her. The others joined them a second later. All of them took a look at Bailey and felt a little guilty.

"So, I think since we put Bailey through that, Bailey should get to choose the next ride," Madison quickly said. The others all nodded in agreement.

A smile appeared across Bailey's face as she stood up. She then grabbed Scott's hand and started leading the group off into the opposite direction of the roller coaster.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

"_An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better."_

_-Samuel Butler_

Chapter Sixteen

"Vanessa, please pick up your phone," Craig begged on her voice mail, "I k now that you are here. If you get this, call me. I know this must be hard for you. Please just call me."

Vanessa quickly deleted the voice mail and buried her head into her hands. She had run out of her house and just kept running. When she finally stopped, she had looked down at her phone and saw that she had eleven missed calls. Seven from Craig, three from her parents, and one from Sarah. She knew they were all extremely worried about her. She never did anything rash. Vanessa didn't know what to do. She couldn't go home. She couldn't see the looks on her parent's faces again. She would go and see Craig, but she didn't want to have to talk to him about what had happened. Maybe she could pretend it never happened. When she got home, she could tell her parents that she was just kidding, she knew she wasn't adopted. Of course, that was a great plan if she had been six years old.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Vanessa whispered to herself. Tears were streaming down her face as they had been since she had left the house.

—

Sarah was really worried about Vanessa. Vanessa hadn't answered any calls from Craig, herself, or Carmen. They had all gathered at Carmen's apartment (Sarah's mom and dad, Sarah, Craig, his parents, Tibby, and Brian) and were frantically trying to find her.

"Hey honey," Lena said as she came up behind her daughter, "it'll be okay. I promise."

"What was she thinking?" Sarah asked, shaking her head, "running away? What if something happens to her?"

"Look, why don't you go out and get some food for all of us," Lena suggested, wanting to keep her daughter busy, "see if Craig wants to go with you."

Sarah just nodded and walked over to Craig. But, as she approached him she realized that he wasn't wanting to go anywhere. He was sitting in the chair, staring intently at his phone, as if Vanessa was going to call him if he looked at it long enough and with a great death glare. He seemed as if he was on the verge of tears.

Sarah made a note to herself to talk to Craig when she got back.

—

"So, you and Scott were looking pretty cozy earlier today," Beth pointed out, sitting next to Bailey before their cabin meeting started that night.

"We're just friends," Bailey tried to inform her, but only to hear Beth laugh at her.

"You keep telling yourself," Beth shook her head.

Bailey knew that as much as she wanted everybody else to believe that she was just friends with Scott, they weren't just friends. Or, at least, she didn't think they were just friends. She thought they were a lot more, but who knows because Scott hadn't really made any moves on her. He could just think of her as a friend. When did her life get so confusing?

"Okay girls," their cabin leader spoke up, clapping her hands to get their attention, "every cabin called a meeting tonight to talk about a new project at camp that we have decided to start this year."

"What is it?" Shannon drawled, looking down at her nails, as if she was too important to be here right now.

"A group project," the leader said triumphantly. All the girls looked up at her, "well ... not like the ones you do in school. We're going to divide everybody up into groups of four and then you have a week to make a presentation to give in front of everybody else at the camp."

"Wait, does everybody have to get up in front of the camp?" Madison nervously asked.

"I'm afraid so," the leader said, sympathetically, "now, I have the list of the groups that we picked beforehand, and no, there is no changing groups."

"What kind of project are we supposed to present?" Beth wondered aloud as the leader posted the list of the groups on the wall.

"Any," the counselor shrugged, "if you want to be a mime you can."

Bailey didn't say anything, just made her way forward to look at the list. When she got there she saw her name, and the other three people in her group were Scott, Shannon, and a kid named Shawn that hung out with Scott some. Somebody at this camp had a really awful sense of humor to do this to her, Bailey thought as she glumly sat back down.

—

"Lainey, are you okay?" Margaret asked her, a concerned look on her face as they walked into the pizza parlor.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lainey muttered, but then quickly changed her mind when she saw who else was in the pizza parlor, "no, I'm not, can we please go somewhere else for lunch?"

Margaret, Donny, and Nick followed her gaze to see Rachelle, Marcus, Lacey, and Matt sitting at a nearby booth, laughing as they ate some pizza. Donny rolled his eyes before turning to Lainey.

"Look, you have to face them sooner or later," Donny pointed out, "you don't want to be the scared girl who runs every time she sees them."

"Not every time I see them," Lainey protested, "just every time I see them until this summer is over."

"And then you go back to your new home and never have to worry about them again?" Nick asked, amused.

"Exactly," Lainey smiled at him, "so, let's go."

"Oh, if it isn't Lainey the girl who wants my boyfriend but totally can't have him because he loves me and not her," Rachelle then spoke up, telling Lainey that her chance of escape had passed. Now if she walked out she would seem like a chicken for not facing Rachelle.

"Hey Rachelle," Lainey happily told the girl, "haven't talked to you in a while."

Lainey and Rachelle understood each other's tactics. Rachelle had a habit of throwing as many insults as she could until you broke. This was a very effective tactic with many in the school. Lainey had always had a more subtle tactic. She didn't waste her time on small stuff, if she had something big to throw at you, she'd be kind, a very fake kind, and then all of a sudden would lay out her big piece of gossip about you in a sickly sweet voice, and then say bye and leave. If she didn't have anything on you, she just responded to you in a cold way and acted like you didn't even exist.

Both girls tactics had blended extremely well when they would gang up on somebody together, but since they had never used their tactics on one another, nobody was sure how it would play out. Not only in the group, but other curious bystanders in the parlor who had heard or been on the receiving end of one, or both, of the girls tactics.

"Does that voice mean that the famous Lainey has something on me?" Rachelle asked, shocked, "I bet it just means she wants to make out with my boyfriend again."

Lainey fought to keep her cool. She knew that she couldn't let Rachelle win this, "Yeah, well, you do have great taste in guys, if I may say so myself."

"Well, you did like him for six years and never told him," Rachelle coldly told her.

"Oh well, my loss, your gain," Lainey smiled at the girl, before heading towards an empty booth on the other side of the parlor.

Everybody in the parlor watched her go, disappointed that Lainey didn't have anything in her. She seemed to be giving up on beating Rachelle. Silent agreement among the crowd was that even though you were always told to be the bigger person, it was no fun to watch somebody be the bigger person. But, before they could go too far down that train of though, Lainey turned back around with a huge smile on her face.

"But, next time you might want to tell 'your gain' not to hit on me in the mall," Lainey triumphantly said, "No offense or anything, but after he's been with you, you can't really get the Rachelle stench off. Love ya babe."

She then swiftly sat down in a booth, leaving Rachelle there, stunned.

"I so think you are lying," Rachelle defiantly told her, "because you are jealous."

Even after this remark, Lainey ignored her. The people in the pizza parlor, especially the friends who had been divided, understood that this was a major win of Lainey's. This was made even more evident when Rachelle turned to her boyfriend and clearly asked him if he really did hit on her. Even if the statement hadn't been true, a rift had been driven into Marcus and Rachelle's relationship. Exactly what Lainey had hoped to achieve.

—

"Sarah," Susie joyfully said as she came up to her when Sarah entered the diner. Sarah sighed before turning to Susie.

"Hey Susie," she cheerfully said, "how are you today?"

"I'm great," Susie answered, "so, what are you doing?"

"Well, normally people that enter this diner are here to get food Susie," a voice spoke up behind the pair, very coldly.

"Hello Seth," Susie said, just as coldly as she turned to him, "I believe that Sarah can answer for herself."

"Really?" Seth asked, surprised, "because I was pretty sure up until a few days ago, you were the one who was speaking for her."

"Excuse me?" Susie asked.

"Well ... the whole flirting thing when you knew it wouldn't work," Seth pointed out, "now, if you'll excuse us, Sarah and I have some food we need to pick up."

Susie left the two without saying another word. Seth then turned to Sarah, who was glaring at him.

"You think that I couldn't think for myself?" Sarah demanded to know.

"You couldn't," Seth snapped back, "you followed Susie's every whim."

"You are a jerk," Sarah plainly told him as she paid for the food and grabbed the bags off the counter, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and try and find Vanessa now."

Seth followed her outside and then grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"What do you mean, find Vanessa?" he asked, curiously, "do you mean go over to her house?"

"No, she's gone," Sarah softly told him, "she told her parents she knew she was adopted and ran out. She won't answer anyone's phone calls, not even Craig's."

Seth flinched whenever Craig's name was mentioned. Something dawned on Sarah.

"You like Vanessa, don't you?" Sarah asked him, "and that would explain why you didn't like me flirting with you."

"Or maybe it was because I don't like people flirting with me to enact revenge," Seth said, grabbing one of the bags as he got into his car, "come on, let's go back to Vanessa's house in case she calls."

"Fine, whatever," Sarah shrugged as she got into her car with the other bags. She hoped that Vanessa would call soon. Even if her parents didn't care (which she knew Vanessa's parents cared a lot), she had two boys who were now worried sick about her.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

"_Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down... tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens… makes her a home."_

_-Mal from the movie, Serenity_

Chapter Seventeen _  
_"Okay, so what's the plan?" Scott asked, plopping down on the ground beside Bailey and looking up at Shannon, who was obviously wanting to be the one in charge of the project.

"Well … if you guys don't mind," Shannon said, but in a voice that made it obvious that she didn't care if they minded or not, "I thought we could write a cute little play."

"A cute little play?" Bailey asked, trying not to express too much doubt into her voice, but Scott must have noticed the tone, because he smiled at her.

"Yeah, just kind of dialogue of two couples sitting down to dinner," Shannon dismissed, "you and Scott can be a couple, and Shawn and I can be a couple."

"WHAT?" came three identical replies as Shawn, Scott, and Bailey all looked up at Shannon as if she were nuts. There was no way Shannon was going to let Scott and Bailey be a couple. She still wanted Scott, didn't she?

"It would be a good idea," Shannon said impatiently, "come on, it's the best idea we have."

"I'm all for it," Shawn automatically agreed.

"You would be," Scott muttered under his breath, before continuing in a louder voice for them all to hear, "of course I'm in too."

They all turned expectantly to Bailey, who looked tongue tied, but then blurted out, "I can't do that."

And then she got up and left the group, the other three stunned.

---

Lainey kicked the soccer ball into the goal again. She thought that putting Rachelle down like she had earlier would have made her feel better. And it did for a little while, but now all she wanted was to have her best friend back. Then, when she had tried to get a hold of her brother for some brotherly love, he hurriedly told her he'd call her back later because something important was happening.

She knew she could talk to the other three, but it wasn't something that she really wanted to talk with them about, because, honestly, she thought to herself, how many people really want to hear, 'yeah, you guys are great friends, but I really miss my best friend right now. Even if she is a stupid back-stabbing whore.'

Somehow, she thought the answer to that would be not too many people. She would ruin people's lives for even suggesting such things to her. And, yet, here she was, wanting to suggest it to somebody, anybody who would still love her for what she was thinking.

The good news was that she was now officially over Marcus. The stupid jerk could have Rachelle for all she cared. In fact, he could hook up with every girl in town, and Lainey knew she wouldn't care. Well, that much. Because it still hurt that he hadn't chosen her.

That she hadn't been good enough. Hadn't been good enough to get Marcus. Hadn't been good enough to keep Rachelle. Hadn't been good enough to insult Rachelle and feel good about it later.

She was an utter failure at life. And with those words running through her mind, she sank to the ground, crying.

---

Vanessa continued to walk around the park, but she could tell it was getting pretty late. And she had seen a couple of creepy people walk by, eyeing her. She definitely did not want to get murdered in a park. So, she swallowed her pride and picked up her phone and dialed an all too familiar number.

"Hey Craig," she whispered into her phone, tears threatening to spill out again.

"Vanessa!" he greeted back, relief flooding his voice, "are you okay? Everybody's worried sick."

"I'm fine," Vanessa tried to assure him, but choked on the words as she was saying it, "can you please come and pick me up though?"

"Sure sweetheart, whatever you say," Craig hurriedly said, "where are you?"

"I'm at the park … you know the one we always go too," Vanessa told him "but, please don't bring my parents, or any adults. Please."

She sensed a slight hesitation in his voice before he replied, "sure, sure thing Vanessa. I'll be there as soon as possible."

As she hung up the phone she made her way to the nearest park bench and sat down, bringing her knees closer to herself. Life was definitely not going her way this summer. Even if she had been wearing the Pants (Sarah had given them to her for good luck) to tell her parents. Maybe the Pants weren't supposed to be lucky for her. Maybe they were really cursed and would make her forever do something she would regret every time she wore them.

Or maybe the magic of the Pants had always been in the mother's imagination and there had never really ever been the magic of the Pants.

This thought made Vanessa want to curl up even more.

---

Craig hung up the phone as Seth and Sarah stood around him, "she wants me to go pick her up."

"Sweet, let's tell her mom," Sarah eagerly said, trying to make Carmen feel a little better. Craig grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.

"Actually … she doesn't want us telling anybody," Craig told her, and then flinched away as if expecting to get yelled at.

"She doesn't want us telling her mom?" Sarah asked, shaking her head, "I'm sorry, I won't do it."

"If you don't do it I'm not telling you where she is," Craig said, irritated as Seth and him headed out the door.

"Fine, wait up for me," Sarah sighed, running out the door after them.

---

"Vanessa!" she heard Craig yell. Vanessa jumped off the bench and ran to Craig, throwing her arms around his neck. He picked her up and just held her for the longest time before finally whispering into her hair, "I was so worried about you. Never, ever do that to me again."

"Trust me, that will most definitely not be happening," Vanessa assured, tears coming down her face once again.

"Hey," she heard a quiet whisper from behind Craig. She looked behind him to see Seth and Sarah standing there, looking as if they felt a little uncomfortable. Vanessa had been so glad to see Craig that she hadn't noticed them at first, but since she had noticed them, she released Craig and bound into Seth's arm.

"Kid, you gave us quite a scare," Seth smiled at her, "you should really not act so irrational."

"Because you are Mr. Rational," Vanessa rolled her eyes at him, but still gave him a tender smile before turning to Sarah and giving her a hug.

"Your mom is worried out of her mind," Sarah blurted out. Craig and Seth both shot her glares from behind Vanessa.

"Well, that's what she gets for not listening to me," Vanessa coldly said, "I tried to talk to her about it."

"But …," Sarah started to argue, but was interrupted by Craig.

"As much as I would love to sit here and listen to the two of you duke it out, really, I would," Craig said, with a tone of voice that clearly stated that he would rather be doing anything else but that, "we should probably get out of here."

"Fine," Sarah dismissed.

"Did you guys all ride together?" Vanessa asked curiously, looking between the three of them.

"No, Craig insisted that he take his own car so you two can go and talk," Sarah rolled her eyes, "so, go ahead, we'll go back to the house."

Craig and Vanessa walked towards his car as Sarah and Seth walked back towards his car.

---

"Bailey McBrian," Bailey heard Shannon's haughty voice as the girl approached her bunk bed later.

"Yes?" Bailey asked, looking at Shannon for a second before staring back up at the bottom of the top bunk.

"Why in the world do you not want to be a couple with Scott?" Shannon demanded to know, sitting on the foot of Bailey's bed.

"Why do you want me to be a couple with Scott?" Bailey retaliated, "I know that you still like him."

"Yeah, but he likes you," Shannon pointed out to her, "that's why we broke up."

"Then why in the world do you want to bring the two of us closer together?" Bailey asked, a bewildered expression on her face. She was pretty sure that if she had been in a similar situation, she definitely would not have wanted her opponent to have the guy in the end. Especially if the guy was Scott.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Shannon sighed, looking at Bailey as if she was one of the dumbest people on the earth.

"That would be nice," Bailey admitted.

"Okay," Shannon said, acting as if it was a big chore, "Scott and I broke up because he liked you. I happen to think that Shawn is cute. If I can get Shawn to like me back, which I think he already does, I'll be set. But, if I find out that Scott and I broke up and he didn't even get together with the girl he liked, I would feel bad."

"So, basically even though this is about Scott and I, this is still about you," Bailey shook her head, "that is absolutely amazing that you can make everything about you."

"It's a gift," Shannon shrugged, "but really, he likes you, you like him, if you don't stop this whole, 'I don't want Shannon to be upset because I went out with her ex-boyfriend' crap, I might have to slap you. Here I am, telling you I won't be upset. In fact, I am very much encouraging the relationship. You two are perfect for each other."

"Thanks Shannon," Bailey smiled at her, giving her a small hug before standing up, "so, we better get this play written."

"Now you are talking," Shannon cheerfully said, jumping up.

---

"You are going to talk to your mom when we get back, right?" Craig asked as he drove to their favorite sno cone stand and sat down with their sno cones.

Vanessa opened her mouth to tell him that she was actually not going to talk to her mother until her mother gave her a good reason to talk to her, but Craig answered for her, "the answer to that question better be yes."

"Why do I have to talk to her?" Vanessa whined, "she's the one who started all of this."

"Because I don't want to have to tell people that one of my friends, a good friend who I like very much, is a big chicken," Craig explained to her, "and besides, you and your mom need to have a good talk. I'll also tell you this, you are acting a lot like your mom right now. My mom told me when she was a teenager, actually, I think her first summer with the Pants, she threw a rock through her dad's window and ran back to her home in Bethesda."

"That definitely sounds like my mom," Vanessa rolled her eyes, "I guess I could talk to her."

"No guessing," Craig firmly said, "you will talk to her."

"Fine, fine Craig!" Vanessa shook her head, "I will definitely, most certainly talk to my mom about the fact that I'm adopted and that she would not listen to me when I tried to tell her."

"Good for you," Craig smiled at the girl.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Author's Note: Sorry its been so long, but I was home for Christmas break, and felt no motivation whatsoever to do anything. So, anyways, here is the continuation of this story! Oh, and I finally read the Fourth Summer book!

"_A wretched soul, bruised with adversity,_

_We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;_

_But were we burdened with like weight of pain,_

_As much or more we should ourselves complain."_

_-William Shakespeare_

Chapter Eighteen

"Scott! Bailey! You guys are not acting like a couple at all!" Shannon's booming commanding voice startled them, "be all flirty and stuff."

"I'll get right on that," Bailey rolled her eyes, "besides, you and Shawn aren't acting like a very good couple either."

"But, we just look natural on stage," Shannon dismissed, "You guys look awkward and like you know that there is an audience."

"We do know there is an audience," Bailey pointed out, "did you ever think that it was because we don't have any chemistry?"

Shawn snorted, and then looked up to see all three teenagers staring at him, "what? You guys flirt with each other all the time. Why don't you just act normal?"

"Because normally I don't have to think about the fact that there will be everybody in the camp watching me," Bailey retaliated.

"Look, Shannon," Scott said, trying to diffuse a blow-up, "why don't you two head off to dinner and Bailey and I will practice this script some more."

"Fine," Shannon huffily said, "but do your best! And be more prepared for practice tomorrow."

"We will," Scott soothingly said. With those words, Shawn and Shannon hurried off to the cafeteria and Scott turned to Bailey, "look, I don't know about you, but Shannon seems particularly set on getting this play perfect, and I don't want to be the reason it screws up."

"Well, you won't be," Bailey assured him, "I think I will do a good enough job of that for the both of us."

"Nah, we're the perfect couple," Scott tried to assure her, but quickly realized his mistake when she looked at him funny, "I mean, we will be the perfect couple on stage."

"I ... I knew what you meant," Bailey reassured him, grabbing her script and bringing it close to her so they could begin practicing.

—

Sarah looked out the window, and then glanced at Seth, then looked out the window again. She hadn't been alone with a guy since Carlos and her had been at that party together. And it just seemed so surreal. That night she hadn't known whether or not she could trust Carlos, yet she still went with him to the party, what kind of person was she?

The night had only taken place a few days ago, but Sarah felt so much older then just those few days ago. She had gotten a new circle of friends, she had realized that life wasn't all about the boys, and she hadn't gone out partying once since then.

Yet, the most significant change in her life came with the fact that she just couldn't trust guys anymore. When Seth had stood up to Susan in the restaurant, she thought he was being sleazy, even though he was a usually nice guy. When Craig and Vanessa had gone off to talk and get sno cones before heading back to Vanessa's, she thought he might hurt her. She didn't like to be around her dad, her brother, or any other guy for that matter anymore. She felt scared, trapped, and alone.

For the first couple of days after Vanessa had come and visited her and they had a sleep over and became friends, she thought she was going to be fine. But, then, just one night lying in bed, she suddenly shivered and started to cry. Sarah didn't know how to handle it, but being alone with Seth for the car ride to Vanessa and then back to Vanessa's house was really working her nerves.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked her quietly, glancing at her. They had not talked much since they left Vanessa's house.

"I'm fine," Sarah said shortly.

"Are you sure?" Seth asked, "you seem to be really distracted."

"Well ... I'm just glad Vanessa is alright," Sarah made up an excuse, "so, let's not talk about it anymore."

"Okay then," Seth muttered, "new subject time."

—

Lainey looked around at the party. She knew the whole gang was here, even though Rachelle and her crew were staying away from Lainey's side of the party. She figured it was because Rachelle was plenty mad about Marcus hitting on Lainey and Lainey gaining a one-up on her. Plus, she was probably keeping close tabs on Marcus so he couldn't go off and flirt with more girls. Once the idea was planted in Rachelle's mind, she took it way too far.

"Still thinking about tweedle dee and tweedle dum?" Donny asked, stopping by Lainey's side.

"What are you talking about?" Lainey replied with a question.

"Come on, ever since we saw them, you haven't been able to stop moping about the fact that you miss Rachelle," Donny said, "don't think we didn't notice."

"Sorry," Lainey shrugged, "she was just like the best friend I ever had."

"She was a jerk to you," Donny rolled his eyes, "how do you not see it?"

"We have exactly the same personality," Lainey protested.

"Except she was a thousand times worse," Donny told her, "you were always content to being her best friend, but she was always wanting to one up you, become the best girl in town, not have a tie."

"What are you talking about?" Lainey asked, "she never did that."

"Oh yeah?" Donny asked, "this whole Marcus relationship thing, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she likes Marcus. Because you liked him, and he liked you, she realized that if she could have him, that would one up her on you."

"If Marcus liked me so much he could have just told her no when she made her advances on him," Lainey pointed out.

"I know that," Donny snapped, "but the point is, she feels as if she is above you now because she took your guy."

"Do you have any other instances, because I don't think that is sufficient," Lainey rolled her eyes.

"Okay, how about in seventh grade when you announced that you wanted to be class president and the next day, Rachelle decided she wanted to run for class president," Donny drew out another instance.

"She won that fair and square," Lainey defended her ex-best friend.

"Oh please," Donny said, looking at her as if she was the dumbest person on earth, "do you not realize that you were the most popular girl in the seventh grade? You should have won hands down. She paid people to vote for her. She tried to pay me, but I refused."

"Look, I just don't believe that Rachelle would be that vile and evil," Lainey denied.

"Okay, take a seat," Donny said, leading her to a nearby couch, "you weren't having much fun at this party anyways, so we're going to do a whole list."

—

Sarah walked quietly into Vanessa's house, hoping nobody would have noticed their absence. However, the second she walked through the door, her mom and dad crowded around her. Seth had decided to go home instead of spending more time at Vanessa's, leaving her to fend off the grown ups herself.

"Hi?" Sarah ventured to say.

"Where have you been missy?" her mom asked.

"Just went out with Seth," she casually said, walking towards the kitchen, but as she walked towards it she could hear a heated debate between Carmen and Bridget.

"You knew that she knew?" Carmen asked, anger and hurt in her voice.

"Somehow she knows Craig, and she was over there one day when I came home," Bridget said, "besides, you should have told her sooner. If you would have been a more attentive mom ...,"

"Don't even go there," Carmen snapped, "what do you know about it?"

"Well, I know a lot more than you think I do," Bridget snapped back, "growing up with the family I did."

"Bee ... I'm sorry," Carmen muttered.

"It's okay," Bridget muttered back. After this, Sarah couldn't take anymore and walked into the kitchen.

"Carmen, I'm sorry, but Vanessa's safe," Sarah said, "Craig just went and picked her up and took her to get sno cones before they came back here."

Carmen stormed in the direction of the phone, muttering something about of all the stupid immature things that Vanessa could do, this would be the worst.

"Yeah, because you know, Carmen has so much room to talk about overreacting," Bridget rolled her eyes, letting out a secret giggle with Tibby and Lena.

Sarah smiled to herself, knowing that Vanessa would be safe. And now, knowing that, she could focus more on herself. This summer was supposed to be about herself, getting settled in to a new town and starting a fresh life. And the events of this summer had made it more about herself in ways that Sarah didn't even know existed. She just had to figure out if this was a good, or a bad thing.

—

Vanessa smiled up at Craig, who seemed relaxed, given the current circumstances that they were in.

"Craig, I'm glad that you came for me," Vanessa said quietly.

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked, surprised, "you are one of the best people I know."

"I don't know ... I guess I just thought that maybe you would think I was really childish after all this with my mom," Vanessa shrugged, looking away.

"Hey, you just wait until the first fight I get in with my mother," he reassured her, "you have not seen childish yet."

Vanessa laughed quietly until her cell phone began to ring, she looked at the caller id and saw it was her mother. She smiled at Craig before answering the phone.

"Hello," she calmly said.

"You are getting sno cones with Craig after running away from home?" her mom asked, anger filling every word of her question.

"Mom, I'll be home in a minute," Vanessa tried to assure her, "I just needed some time to clear my head."

"Well, clear your head on the car ride back to this house because we have to talk. NOW!" Carmen practically screamed into the phone before hanging up.

"So, Sarah spilled the beans, huh?" Craig asked, as the duo stood up.

"Yeah, I pretty much figured she would," Vanessa shrugged, "it'll just add one more thing on the list that I have to tell my mom about."

"Good, the more you two talk, the better," Craig said, slinging his arm around her as they walked back to his car.

—

Lainey listened to Donny's word with an interested mind. She had never thought about Rachelle's actions the way Donny painted them, but as the list went on, she could see where he was coming from. Wanting to join the soccer team when Lainey was the star player, even though she could play half as well as Lainey, wanting to be Homecoming Queen when Lainey and her got nominated and actually declaring that it was her right to the crown, even though Lainey was the first one to bring up the fact that it would be cool to be queen, kissing Lainey's eighth grade dance date and then declaring it was only because she was trying to keep her from making a big mistake by not waiting for Marcus.

"So, see," Donny concluded, "you aren't a failure at life, or at being a friend. You just picked a really crappy friend who couldn't, or wouldn't, stay by your side."

And Lainey felt like she was really beginning to understand.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

"_The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified, and misunderstood. This is part of the penalty for greatness, and evey man understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness."_

_-Elbert Hubbard_

Chapter Nineteen

Lainey's mood was almost laughable. She had gone to believing that she had been the failure in her friendship with Rachelle, that she had been the reason that they couldn't keep their friendship strong, but now, with a different point of view, a point of view that seemed so much more realistic than her own, she realized that Rachelle was the failure. Well ... Lainey had still helped because she had chosen a friendship with a leech. A leech who wanted everything that she had.

At first Lainey had wanted to seek revenge on Rachelle, hurt her, and make her feel as awful about herself as Lainey had. However, as the night left and the day wore on, she realized that if she did seek this revenge she would just be sinking to Rachelle's level. It also seemed so easy to want to blame Rachelle on the fact that Marcus dated her, instead of Lainey when Marcus had liked her. But, she knew that the ultimate decision to date Rachelle had been his own, no matter what Rachelle had done.

"Hey," Margaret said quietly as she stepped into the room, "Donny told me he had a talk with you last night."

"Yeah," Lainey said listlessly, "what is wrong with me?"

"Well ... its not all of us," Margaret said, "I mean, sure, Lacey just wanted Lainey to like her, so she'll probably always be over there, but Matt will eventually see the truth."

"I know, I know," Lainey said, shaking her head, "I just don't know why I let her manipulate me all those years. And I still can't feel good about revenge on her."

"That's because you are a better person than her," Margaret informed her.

---

Bailey looked at Scott and then hurried to look back down at the script. They had been practicing for over an hour, and she had to admit that they sounded more like a couple now than they had when Shannon had left.

"I still don't know if I can do this in front of the entire camp," Bailey admitted as they took a break, "with all those people looking at me and what not."

"It's not that big of a deal," Scott shrugged.

"Maybe for you it isn't, but I've never done anything in front of people before," Bailey cringed at the thought.

"Never?" he asked, looking at her, surprised.

"I was supposed to make a speech at eighth grade promotion for being valedictorian and stuff, but I refused," Bailey shuddered, "and then every time we are supposed to get up in front of people in class and talk, I cry, so the teachers never make me."

"That is so cool," Scott said, "do you think if I cried my teachers wouldn't make me get up in front of the class?"

"They might think it was a little weird," Bailey laughed, "besides, you just seem like the kind who hams it up when you get a chance to get up in front of people."

"True that," Scott joined her in laughter, "but really, don't think about it too much. If you just relax. You'll do fine. Just pretend its just you and me having a lovely dinner, with Shannon and Shawn. Block everybody else out."

"I see two problems with that," Bailey informed him, "Shannon would never want to eat dinner with you and me, plus, we're supposed to be a couple in this play, and we aren't one of those in reality."

At those words, Scott looked at Bailey, a wondering expression on his face, "I guess you're right."

"Scott ...," Bailey started to say, wanting to say anything to make him look happier. He seemed to be a little down now, but before she could say anything else, Scott ran a hand through her hair and brought his face closer to her.

"Does this make you feel like more of a couple?" he teased her.

"It makes me feel ... uncomfortable," she admitted. He looked hurt and started to pull away from him, but then she did something she never expected to and closed the gap between them, kissing Scott, who seemed very surprised before kissing her back.

---

"Vanessa!" Carmen said with relief as her daughter came into the house, throwing her arms around her. A second later her dad joined the fray and threw his arms around her too.

"Um, Craig, thank you for bringing our daughter home safely," Vanessa's dad said, as Craig look uncomfortable, "your parents went home."

"And I think I will go and join them," Craig said, then gave a look to Vanessa, "call me later."

"I will," she smiled softly, before releasing from her family and jumping into Craig's arm again, "thanks again Craig."

After Craig had exited Vanessa turned back to see both of her parents looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I was just so angry at the fact that you guys didn't want to listen to me."

"I just ... I ...," Carmen kept trying to start, but not really knowing where to start. She knew she couldn't be that mad at her daughter for running away. Her daughter had tried to talk to her, on several occasions, and she wouldn't listen. Plus, she had just reacted in much the same way that Carmen herself would have reacted, so instead of saying anything, she turned to her husband. He was the much more rational person of the group.

"Honey ... when did you find out?" her dad asked, calmly, leading both his daughter and his wife into the family room and sitting on the couch.

"At the beginning of the summer when mom told me to clean out the garage," Vanessa said flatly, "I found the papers and a picture of all of the girls pregnant, except mom wasn't pregnant."

"Honey ... I'm so sorry," Carmen all of a sudden gushed, "I should have listened to you. I should have realized that even though you are a teenager your problems aren't petty. If my mom had told me my problems were petty when I was a child, I would have been so angry with her, and might very well have done the same thing you did."

"I just felt like our family was falling apart," Vanessa started to cry, "we haven't actually talked in so long, and I know its not all your fault, you guys have jobs you have to do. I understand that. I guess ... I don't know ... I guess I just wanted some more attention, some more family time."

"Which is totally natural," her dad assured her, "but, we have to find a new way of handling conversations we need to talk about. I don't think I want another incident like the one we just had. Even if it was rather dramatic."

"Yes daddy," Vanessa smiled at him, "do you guys love me as much as you would love a child that was your own?"

"Honey," Carmen said, stroking her hair, "You are our own child. You always have been. We love you with our entire being. You are the most important thing in our life. You don't even know how worried we were about you whenever you left. Our entire family has a lot to work on, but baby, you have to believe that you are our daughter. Plain and simple."

---

"So ... um ...," Scott said uncomfortably after the two pulled apart.

"Yeah," Bailey said, looking anywhere but at Scott, who then smiled at her.

"So, I'm going to take that as you do like me," Scott teased. Bailey turned bright red.

"How could you have not known that before?" Bailey asked, "I'm pretty sure everybody thought it was obvious."

"Well ... I don't know," Scott said, looking even more uncomfortable, "I mean ... I was pretty sure you did, but then you turned me down at the dance. So, I thought, maybe that was your way of saying you didn't like me. And then you were so nice to me when we went to the amusement park, but then avoided me after that, so I wasn't sure."

"I wasn't so sure if you liked me either," Bailey shook her head.

"Now you've got to be kidding me," Scott shook his head, "I made it very obvious."

"I know ... that's what everybody said," Bailey smiled as Scott put his arm around her and brought her closer to him, "I just wasn't sure if I believed it or not."

"Yeah, well, do you think we can act like a couple now?" he teased her, kissing her cheek.

"I don't know," Bailey smiled at him, "I mean, I can't act to save my life."

"I'm pretty sure that it will be easier than you think," Scott assured her, "I mean, I am your acting partner, your friend, and your boyfriend?"

He said the last statement as kind of a question mark, and Bailey said, "maybe you're right, boyfriend."

---

"Sarah!" her mom shouted as she climbed up the stairs and went into her daughter's room, "phone for you."

"Who is it?" Sarah asked, a little startled. The only person she could think of calling her would be Vanessa, who would probably call her on her cell phone, plus she was talking to her family right now, so she wouldn't be calling anyways.

"Some kid named Seth," her mom shrugged, handing her the phone.

"Hello?" Sarah said quizzically as she took the phone away from her mother.

"Sarah, hi, this is Seth," he said uncertainly, "Um ... I was calling to talk to you about earlier in my car."

"Okay?" Sarah said, questioningly

"I'm sorry," Seth said, "I don't want you to think that I was trying to pry into your personal life. I was just worried about you. You proved to be a good friend to Vanessa tonight."

"Thanks," Sarah said, thankful for his apology, but not wanting to talk to him anymore, "look, I have to go Seth, but thanks again for calling."

With that, she abruptly hung up the phone and leaned back in her bed. Man, she really had to get over this phobia of guys. She couldn't even talk on the phone with one of them. Her life was getting pathetic, and she didn't know how to reverse it. How to make it better.

---

Vanessa looked at each of her parents. They had been talking for hours. And she felt better than she had all summer. Maybe it was a good thing that she had found out about her adoption. Such an important issue that could have torn her family apart just brought them closer together than they had been in years.

"Mom, dad, I love you," Vanessa said as she stood up to go to bed, "and thanks for talking to me."

"We love you too baby," her parents responded, "and you should be the one being thanked. Without you approaching us, I don't know if we could have ever told you honey."

Vanessa walked upstairs and changed into her nightclothes. As she climbed into bed, her thoughts turned to Craig. Craig who had come to get her. Craig who had told her, time and time again, that her parents loved her. She had a feeling she was falling for Craig. She kept trying to tell people that he was just a friend, but after tonight she couldn't deny it anymore ... she liked Craig.


	21. Chapter Twenty

"_The ability to speak does not make you intelligent, now get out of here."_

_-Qui-Gon Jinn_

Chapter Twenty

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to admit it," Sarah said, painting her toe nails as her and Vanessa were sitting around her room. They had been hanging out all day, but Vanessa was leaving to get pizza with Craig and had decided to tell Sarah about her feelings for Craig.

"Wait, you knew?" Vanessa asked, a shocked expression on her face.

"Everybody knew," Sarah assured her, "I mean, Seth knew, Lisa knew, it just took you a little longer to find out. But, what do you think Lainey's going to think when she finds out?"

"I don't know," Vanessa shook her head, "I know that her and Craig are pretty close. Do you think that she'll get angry at me for liking her brother?"

"She does tend to have a slight temper," Sarah considered the option, "I mean, if I had an older brother and then I found out that a girl that I was semi-acquainted with liked him, I'd be a little bit angry."

"But, see, that's just the thing," Vanessa said, frustrated, "we aren't even that well acquainted. It's like this whole traveling pants thing hasn't even effected my relationship with Lainey at all. Or Bailey for that matter. I sent the pants off to Bailey this morning for her turn to use them, but we're not any closer than we were before."

"The traveling pants did bring us together though," Sarah reminded her.

"True," Vanessa smiled, "so, how have you been feeling lately?"

"I'm okay," Sarah dismissed, "what could possibly be wrong with me?"

"Do not even get me started, " Vanessa lectured as she stood up, "we will talk about this later, but I've got to go meet Craig for some pizza. Are you sure you are okay, because I can totally cancel with Craig if you want to talk."

"And let you miss out on your knight with shining armor?" Sarah mocked, "go, seriously, I'm okay."

"Okay, fine, but seriously, I am making you talk later," Vanessa said, leaving the room while shaking her head.

—

Lainey sat down on the floor of her old house. Her brother was coming up in a week, and that was when she was going to throw her end of the summer bash.

"Lainey?" a soft voice spoke up behind her. She twisted around to see Rachelle standing nervously in the doorway of her house.

"Come back to tell me how much I totally suck at life because I chose you as a best friend for so many years?" Lainey asked bitterly as Rachelle hesitantly made her way to where Lainey was sitting.

"Hey, I resent that," Rachelle narrowed her eyes.

"You resent that?" Lainey laughed, "you resent the fact that I regret choosing you as my best friend? You stole the guy that I liked, that you knew that I liked, that you knew I was going to tell him how I felt ...,"

"You always said that you were going to tell Marcus, and you never have," Rachelle protested, "how was I supposed to know that this time you were really going to do it?"

"Even if I wasn't really going to do it, you knew that I had those feelings, and you acted on some lust that you seemed to possess at one moment in time," Lainey snapped at her.

"What do you want me to say?" Rachelle yelled at her, "that I'm sorry, that I never meant for it to happen."

"No, because I don't want to hear more lies," Lainey shook her head, "I want the truth. Why did you do it?"

"Because he's hot," Rachelle said dismissively, sitting down on the ground next to Lainey.

"Are you really telling me that you threw away our friendship because 'he's hot,'" Lainey fumed.

"No, I was still going to be your friend," Rachelle threw back at her, "you were the one who decided to ruin our friendship over it."

"He was my guy!" Lainey stood up, frustrated.

"Obviously not," Rachelle shook her head, standing up, "you seem to make yourself out as the saint in this situation, but you're really not. You're the one who was too scared to tell him previously. You're the one who decided that a simple guy was going to get in the way of our friendship. You are more at fault for this situation than I am."

"I'm more at fault?" Lainey snorted, "I spent my whole life blaming myself for the problems in our friendship, thinking that you were never at fault. And now I see past that, and while I may have been at fault for some of our squabbles, you took none of the blame. And that sucks, and thereby you suck."

—

Sarah walked down the street, stopping at a store window. She saw a really cute bracelet in the store and decided to look closer at it. As she walked in the door, she ran into somebody. She glanced up and saw somebody that she never wanted to see again.

"Sarah," Carlos smiled at her, "how have you been? I haven't seen you since the break-up."

"Yeah," Sarah mumbled, trying to walk past him, but he put out his arm and stopped her.

"Hey, there's no hard feelings are there?" Carlos whispered to her as he pulled her away from the store.

"Hard feelings about what?" Sarah asked nervously.

"You are a really nice girl," Carlos smiled at her before turning and walking off, leaving Sarah alone. She backed up against the nearest wall. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She hadn't seen Carlos since that night. She didn't realize it would be that hard. Well ... maybe she did realize it, she just hoped that it wouldn't be as hard as it was. They had barely talked, in fact, she had said less than ten words to him. Nobody had ever had this kind of effect on her.

Sarah shuddered as she started to walk off, deciding to just walk home. She only got about a block before she literally ran into someone else.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Seth asked, concerned as he noticed the tears running down her face. Plus, she had completely recoiled whenever they had run into each other, even though it was a complete accident.

"I'm fine," Sarah snapped at him, trying to move around him as she had done with Carlos, but, once again, he wouldn't let her go and grabbed her arm.

"Hey," he softly said.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked at him and ran away, making it all the way home without any more interruptions. She then ran up the stairs and flopped on her bed. She was halfway through dialing Vanessa's phone number when she realized that she was trying to convince Vanessa that she was okay, and calling her right now would definitely not make her seem okay.

"Sarah!" she heard somebody yell up the stairs to her and about a minute later, Seth entered her room and took in the scene of her lying on her bed, phone still in her hand.

"What do you want?" Sarah asked him coldly, carefully putting the phone back in its cradle.

"What is wrong with you?" Seth demanded to know, "I mean, I know the rumors about Carlos and the sophomore last year ...,"

"Why is that everybody thinks something happened to me because of Carlos?" Sarah asked of him.

"So, this has nothing to do with Carlos?" Seth questioned.

"I never said that either," Sarah said, grumpily, "now get out of my house before I call the cops on you."

"Fine," Seth threw his hands up in the air, "but not all guys are as bad as you seem to think they are."

And with that statement, he walked out of the house.

—

"I kissed Scott!" Bailey excitedly told Maddie, Beth, and Jennifer later as they were getting ready for bed. All three girls jumped up and down and hugged her.

"And?" Maddie urged her to continue as they all sat down on Beth's bed.

"I think we're officially going out now," Bailey said, trying to keep her enthusiasm level down, "but you know the weirdest part about the whole thing?"

"The fact that it actually happened?" Beth teased her, "I was sure that he would never make his move."

"No, not that," Bailey sent her an annoyed look, "I feel like I owe most of it to Shannon. She's the one who forced me to be a couple with Scott. And she told me that she wouldn't care if I went out with him."

"And you better always remember who was there to help you," a haughty voice spoke up and all four girls looked up to see Shannon standing there, "without me, you and Scott would still be doing the whole run around thing. You can thank me later."

As the other three girls rolled their eyes at Shannon, Bailey just smiled at her. With a wink at Bailey and a genuine smile, Shannon walked away, leaving the four girls to talk about Bailey and Scott.

—

"Fine, do you want the truth Lainey?" Rachelle asked her, eyes flashing with anger.

"That would be a nice change," Lainey sarcastically said, "why did you want Marcus so bad?"

"Because you always had everything," Rachelle started, as tears began to well up in her eyes, "you were prettier, more athletic, smarter, even more popular. Girls looked at you and saw somebody they wanted to be. Girls looked at me and wondered if I was going to start a fight with them or try and steal their boyfriends, or who my next conquest in the world of boys was going to be. Boys looked at you and saw somebody angelic, Marcus really liked you, but boys looked at me and saw somebody they could easily get in bed. You were everything I wasn't, and everything I wanted to be."

"Jealousy is not pretty on you," Lainey softly said, "I was your best friend. And I thought you were mine. I gave you popularity, by letting you be Homecoming Queen, not getting offended when you decided to run for class president. But why Marcus? The one thing ...,"

"Because I knew that it was the one thing that could really bring you down," Rachelle stated, "a guy that you had liked for years choosing your best friend over you? There is not much more that brings down popularity than that."

"Other than being a backstabbing whore," Lainey shook her head, "now, if you don't mind, please exit my house."

"But, I want us to look past all this and be friends again," Rachelle protested.

"Sweetheart, we were never friends," Lainey gave her a sad smile, "and I'm glad that I can see that now."

And with those words, Rachelle quietly walked out of the house, leaving Lainey alone with her thoughts.

—

"You can do this," Sarah muttered to herself as she paced in front of a small, white building. After talking to Seth, Sarah decided that he was right, not all guys were bad. There was just something between her brain and her body that wasn't getting the hint. And so, Sarah had decided that maybe it would be best for her to talk to somebody about this.

Somebody outside of the situation. Like a clinical psychologist. So, here she was, pacing around the front door, scared to go inside.

Sarah finally hurried into the door before she lost her nerves again. She quietly approached the receptionist's desk and waited for the lady to look up.

"How may I help you?" the lady chirped as soon as she saw Sarah standing in front of her.

"Um ... hi," Sarah nervously said, "my name is Sarah and I was wondering if I could make an appointment to see one of your psychologists."

The lady just nodded and handed her a form to fill out. Sarah let out a sigh of relief until she looked at the bottom and realized that this required a parent's signature.


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

Author's Note: Okay, so somebody asked me who the girls fathers were, so I decided to go ahead and include that: Bailey's is Brian, Sarah's is Paul (I always liked Paul/Lena more than Lena/Kostos), Vanessa's is some random guy named Phil that did not appear in the books (I did not like anybody they tried to pair Carmen up with in the books), and Lainey's is Eric.

"_There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?"_

_-Airplane_

Chapter Twenty-One

_Dear Bailey,_

_Hey! I hope your summer is going pretty well. As is known by the larger population of Bethesda, you were not looking forward to summer camp. Anyways, I hope that you have an interesting tale to tell in these pants and I am definitely looking forward to hearing about your summer!_

_Yours Truly,_

_Vanessa_

"Bailey! We're on stage in fifteen minutes," Shannon shrieked as she joined the girl, who had just finished opening the pair of traveling pants. Shannon looked the pair of pants up and down.

"Those are absolutely gorgeous pants!" Shannon told her, "put them on now. They will totally compliment the scene."

"Yes ma'am," Bailey laughed, knowing that Shannon was really nervous.

"What happens if we get booed off stage?" Shannon asked her as she began to pace back and forth. Bailey quickly began to change into the pants behind the dressing curtain.

"We'll be fine," Bailey tried to assure her, "it's only summer camp, its not like they are expecting a Broadway production."

"But we don't even have songs," Shannon moaned at the mention of Broadway.

"Which, is a good thing, because I absolutely, under no circumstances, can dance or sing," Scottmentioned as him and Shawn joined the two girls. Bailey came out from behind the curtain and stood next to Scott, who dropped a kiss on her forehead and whispered to her, "you look gorgeous."

"It'll be okay," Shawn also tried assuring Shannon by putting his arm around her, "we all know how much effort you put into this and we will make sure it is absolutely perfect."

"Shannon, you guys are up," one of the techies shouted back to her.

"We can do this," Shannon encouraged, more for herself than the others as they walked onto stage.

—

Sarah paced back and forth in her room. Should she ask her mom to sign the paper? What would her mom say? She knew her mom would want to know why she wanted to see a psychologist. Sarah could tell her it was because she was having trouble adjusting to the move. Her mom would believe that.

But would the psychologist be obligated to tell Sarah's mom after she found out the truth. Sarah knew about patient confidentiality, but was there a line that could be crossed where they could break it? She was sure there was.

And what would her mom say if she found out the truth? Lena would freak out. She would try and comfort her daughter, but also try and bring justice to the situation. In fact, she would react much in the same way as Vanessa.

What about asking her dad to sign the slip for her? Her dad would not ask what it was for. He trusted her. But would he tell her mom? Probably not if she asked him not to. He was one of the best secret keepers in the world.

But the patient confidentiality thing comes back. Her dad would be mad. He was still an amazingly good tennis and soccer player, working out often. In fact, her dad and Lainey's dad usually got into little soccer matches at get-togethers. Paul would probably go find Carlos and kill him. Sarah had no doubt in her mind that her dad could take him. The added rage would only be advantageous to him.

So, Sarah decided, the new question wasn't if she should ask, she knew she needed this, but which one she should ask?

—

"Craig!" Lainey said in the phone as her brother answered the phone, "how have you been?"

"Good, why are you calling me?" Craig asked, "Aren't you and Rachelle supposed to be taking over the state by now."

"We, well, kind of had our differences," Lainey explained, "I've been trying to get a hold of you for a while."

"I've been kind of busy," Craig said guiltily.

"How? You don't know anybody in Bethesda," Lainey asked, confused.

"I've met a couple people around," Craig said mysteriously, "do you want to talk about you and Rachelle?"

"Nah, I'll talk more about it when you get down here," Lainey brushed it off, "tell me more about these amazing people you've apparently met in Bethesda."

"Well ... there is this girl," Craig said, nervously, "she's pretty amazing."

"You do realize that you will be in college in a short time? Not in Bethesda at all, right?" Lainey asked, "not a good time to start a relationship brother."

"I'm not going to start a relationship," Craig said hesitantly, "look, I have to go."

"Going to meet your amazing mystery woman?" Lainey asked sarcastically.

"Actually, yes," Craig rolled his eyes, even though his sister couldn't see it, "you don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

"Whatever," Lainey retaliated, hanging up her phone as Margaret's door bell rang. She rushed down the stairs, she hadn't been expecting Nick or Donny to be there for another half an hour. She opened the door to see two very nervous looking people. She eyed them. She had no idea what Lacey and Matt could possibly want.

----

"Hey Craig," Vanessa said shyly as she sat down next to him at the pizza parlor.

"Hey," he smiled back as he hung up his phone.

"Who were you talking to?" she said, conversationally.

"Lainey," Craig shrugged, "good times with the sister."

"I think its good you are so close," Vanessa smiled, "I wish I had a sibling."

Craig was about to respond when someone walked up to their table.

"Hello Craig," Susan said, batting her eyes at Craig, who just shot a wary look at Vanessa. Vanessa was trying to keep a laugh from escaping her mouth. Vanessa hadn't seen Susan since the party when Craig and Vanessa had pretended to be dating.

"So, what are you doing here?" Craig asked Susan politely, kicking Vanessa under the table to try and get her to rescue him.

"Just getting some pizza with the girls," Susan smiled, looking at her friends, finally she turned to Vanessa, and coldly said, "how are you Vanessa?"

"I'm good," Vanessa shortly replied, trying to end the conversation.

"Do you just have a habit of stealing things from me?" Susan asked, "First, Craig, then Sarah as a friend. You did not strike me as a jealous type."

"Whatever," Vanessa rolled her eyes, standing up and Craig stood up with her. She made to leave the place whenever Susan spoke up again.

"Just because she bonded with you because of the whole Carlos fiasco, doesn't mean that she really likes you," Susan said, bravely. Vanessa slowly turned around.

"We all know that Carlos is a jerk," Vanessa calmly replied, "and you are just mad because Sarah figured it out sooner than you hoped she would have."

With those words, Vanessa and Craig walked out of the parlor, Vanessa noting that Carlos was in a corner booth and had heard her last comment.

—

"Oh, how I adore you," Bailey recited her last line in the play, enveloping her hand in Scott's as they left the stage area, followed by Shannon and Shawn. Shannon jumped up and down as soon as they were off of the stage.

"We were fantastic!" she squealed, hugging a happy Bailey, before turning to Shawn. Bailey then turned to Scott with an amused look on her face.

"That girl is absolutely crazy," she whispered to him and he nodded his head in agreement.

"You have no idea," Scott shook his head, "she has changed so much from last year. Well, kind of, to some people she has. You are so lucky you got the good version of Shannon."

"You're the one who dated her!" Bailey protested, before Scott pulled her close to him.

"Yeah, well, I was scared of her, what can I say?" Scott mused, kissing her lightly on the forehead, "now come on, let's go celebrate your awesome performance on a stage in front of the entire camp. Today was a big day for you Bailey McBrian."

"All thanks to you Scott Kyle Mcasterson," she smiled, before joining the other two in their acting quartet, "now, let's have some fun!"

–

"Vanessa!" she could hear a voice call out behind her as she walked down the street with Craig. She turned around to see Carlos jogging up to her. She groaned inwardly but politely waited for him to catch up with her.

"Yes?" she curtly asked.

"What exactly did Sarah tell you happened between us?" Carlos asked, uneasily.

"Do you even have the right to ask me that?" Vanessa snidely remarked.

"If it involves me and a rumor about me that's going to be spread around, then yes I do believe I have the right to ask," Carlos snapped at her.

"Trust me, there was no rumor involved, at all," Vanessa shook her head, and turned to leave, when Carlos grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around. With this, Craig couldn't take anymore and stepped between the two of them.

"Whatever you have to say to her, you can say without touching her," Craig said forcefully. Vanessa laid her hand on his arm, and pushed him back.

"I can handle this," she reassured him, and looked at Carlos with cold eyes, "do not ever touch me."

"You wouldn't believe anything that Sarah ever told you, would you?" Carlos rolled his eyes, as if to make Sarah seem crazy, "I'm pretty sure that girl is off her rocker.

"Excuse me?" Vanessa said with narrowed eyes, before speaking in a very low voice to Carlos, "I didn't believe you before when you said you didn't rape that sophomore. I saw her crying. I saw what you did to her. If I didn't believe you before, what makes you think I will believe you now?"

"Because why would I rape some stupid girl when I could have any girl I wanted?" Carlos coldly returned.

"I don't know, you're the one who did it, why don't you answer that question for me?" Vanessa raised an eyebrow.

"The answer is I wouldn't," Carlos shook his head, before leaning in closer to Vanessa, leaving an uneasy Craig looking between the two, "you seem like a smart girl Vanessa. So, I'm going to warn you, if anything happens, if anybody finds out this little lie Sarah is spreading, do you know who I'm going to come back to?"

"That's it," Craig said, furious, moving to step in once again, but before he could act, Vanessa's fist had made connect with Carlos's face. And then, before Carlos could react, her fist made contact with his stomach.

—

"Okay, so now time for the award for the best act," the camp director said later as the campers were assembled into the meeting hall. Each group was sitting together, and Bailey was sandwiched between Shannon and Scott. So far, the funniest act had gone to Maddie's group, and the saddest to another group, and now they were doing best all around act.

"And the winner is ...," the camp director paused for dramatic effect, "Shannon, Scott, Shawn, and Bailey with their act on a night at dinner!"

The four people stood up, Scott making silly bows to the crowd as they made their way up the stairs to receive their award. Shannon stepped up to the microphone.

"I would just like to thank all my group members!" Shannon smiled at them, "together, we rock!"

Bailey laughed with the crowd, winking at her friends, who were also sitting with their groups, Scott then took the microphone away from Shannon.

"And I would like to thank myself," he said comically, "without my striking good looks, this group would have never made it."

Both girls whacked him upside the head and as Bailey did another sweeping view of the crowd she couldn't help but feel that her mother had been right all along and she really was enjoying her experience at Camp Teens.


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

"_Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane... something sacred shows itself to us ... something of a wholly different order, a reality that does not belong to our world, in objects that are an integral part of our natural "profane" world."_

_-Mircea Eliade_

Chapter Twenty-Two

_Dear Vanessa,_

_So, my brother told me yesterday on the phone that he met a girl in Bethesda. I was wondering if you knew anything about it because you know everybody in that town. If you could please fill me in on anything you know, I would very much thank you._

_Thanks,_

_Lainey_

—

"I can't believe you're leaving tomorrow," Vanessa complained to Craig. The two were lounging around on Vanessa's couch watching a movie. Craig just smiled at her.

"I'll be back in a week," Craig promised, "I need to spend some quality time with my sister before she comes back up here and I go off to college."

"It's weird that you're going to West Virginia for a week, and then coming back here only to fly back out to West Virginia," Vanessa shook her head.

"It may seem weird," Craig shrugged, "but, back to that spending quality time with my sister."

"I know," Vanessa pouted, "I just don't know what I'm going to do without you hanging around anymore."

"The same thing you did for your first sixteen years in Bethesda," Craig laughed, "it shouldn't be too hard."

"Well, fine then," Vanessa said haughtily, "oh, by the way, I got a letter from your sister today."

"Oh yeah?" Craig asked, amused, "and what did she want?"

"She told me that you informed her that you met a girl in Bethesda," Vanessa said, amused, "she wanted to know if I could find out who it was."

"And?" Craig urged her to go on.

"I thought about all the girls," Vanessa shrugged, "is it Sarah?"

"Come on, you should know this one," Craig shook his head at how clueless Vanessa was.

"How should I know? Is it Susie?" Vanessa asked, curling up her nose at the mere thought of that, and was quickly relieved when Craig shook his head, "I don't know. You spend all your time with me. Oh."

The last word she said was laced with realization as she finally put the pieces together.

"Yup," Craig said, suddenly uncomfortable, "okay, well, I think I should go and pack now so I'll be ready tomorrow."

Craig stood up and started walking towards the door, leaving a stunned Vanessa on the couch.

"Craig, wait," Vanessa jumped off the couch. He turned around as she approached him and gave him an awkward hug, "have fun in West Virginia."

"Thanks," Craig muttered before walking out the door, leaving Vanessa to lean against her door as she shut it.

"That went incredibly well," Vanessa sarcastically said to herself, "why couldn't I tell him I liked him too?"

—

"She did what?" Sarah asked Seth incredulously as she talked to him over the phone. Sure, rumors had been spreading around for the last couple days about Vanessa hitting Carlos, but Sarah just thought they were actually rumors.

"She really hit him," she could hear Seth laughing through the phone, "I mean, I didn't know whether to believe it or not until he walked into the school the other day to get a transcript and he had a black eye."

"I don't know if I should be impressed or angry," Sarah said, amusement filling her voice. Carlos had definitely gotten what he had deserved.

"He'll be okay," Seth reassured her, "now, I'm going to go because Vanessa has to fill me in on all the details. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Seth," Sarah said before hanging up the phone and shaking her head. She then turned around to see her mom looking at her, curiously.

"And what are you going to be impressed or angry about?" her mom asked her curiously.

"Nothing," Sarah snapped at her mom, immediately regretting it. Sarah had always been close to her mom and felt bad about being mean to her.

"You have been acting suspiciously for a while now," her mom eyed her, clearly disgruntled with her.

"I'm sorry mom," Sarah sighed, sitting down at the table, "we were just talking about something Vanessa did."

"You know, while I'm not excited about the friendship you and Vanessa have, I'm still a little confused on how it came about," Lena said, sitting at the kitchen table, indicating to Sarah to sit too. Sarah sighed before joining her mother. There was no way of getting out of this.

"What do you want me to say?" Sarah shrugged, "that the friendship fairy suddenly made us friends?"

Lena fixed her with a withering glare before saying, "No, I want the truth."

"Well," Sarah sifted through her thoughts to figure out how she could say this without revealing the whole truth to her mom, "when Carlos and I broke up, and you delivered the pants to me, I decided that I didn't want them because I was down about the whole thing and just automatically gave them to Vanessa. And then Vanessa came to return them and we had a nice little talk. So, basically it wasn't magical fairies that brought us together, it was the pants."

"And why exactly did you and Carlos break up?" Lena asked. Sarah stared at her mom in amazement. As much as her mother didn't like to talk about things, she loved to make her daughter talk about them.

"Because we realized that we just didn't click," Sarah tried to shrug off, but the look on her mother's face told her that she hadn't believed a word of it.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lainey eyed the two suspiciously. Lacey and Matt both looked down at their shoes.

"Well," Matt started, "we decided to come and apologize … since you are leaving next week,"

"We don't want you leaving thinking we hate you," Lacey muttered, "Because we don't."

"Thanks for the update," Lainey said sarcastically, moving over to let the two into Margaret's house, "Donny and the others are going to be here in a second so we can go and pick Craig up from the airport."

"Craig?" Lacey asked, perking up. She had always had a slight thing for Craig.

"Yeah," Lainey said coldly, "I'd invite you, but the car's already full."

She sighed as she saw the sad looks on her friends faces, "Look, I'm having an end of the year party two days from now, so why don't you guys come? And you can invite Marcus and Rachelle too."

"Really?" the two exchanged glances before fearfully looking at Lainey, "you really want to invite Marcus and Rachelle?"

"I know the three of us didn't end on good terms," she sighed, "but, I don't want to go back to Bethesda knowing that I at least didn't try and set things straight. Tell them that as long as they'll live their drama at home, I'll leave mine at Margaret's, okay?"

Before either person could answer, Margaret's door opened and Margaret, Nick, and Donny entered the house. The three teenagers immediately noticed Matt and Lacey standing with Lainey, looking uncomfortable.

"Are you ready to go Lainey?" Donny asked, smiling at the two, trying to ease their tension, but neither met his gaze.

"Yeah, so what do you guys say?" Lainey looked hopefully at the awkward teens.

"We will definitely tell them," Matt reassured her, before both teenagers rushed out of the house.

"What was that about?" Margaret asked curiously as soon as Matt and Lacey were out of earshot.

"Nothing," Lainey said nonchalantly, "let's just go pick up my brother you guys."

"We leave in two days," Bailey sighed as she, Maddie, Beth, and Jennifer lay under a tree, talking about their summer, "I really don't want to go."

"Hardly anybody does after the summer is over," Beth shook her head, "I'm just so sad that it is my last summer here."

"You're telling me," Jennifer shook her head, "I've been looking forward to coming to this summer camp ever since my first year. Man, I remember how much I absolutely did not want to come here my first year."

"I didn't want to come this year either," Bailey shook her head, "back home I'm a nobody. I was sure it was going to be the same way here."

"I knew it was going to be amazing," Maddie shrugged. The other three turned to look at her and she laughed, "my sister came her last year, she told me how awesome it was. And we have a lot of the same personality."

"I'm just glad you guys came," Beth smiled at all three, "this has definitely been my favorite summer here."

Bailey suddenly sat up and drew her knees close to her. The other three quickly followed suite and looked at the sad expression on the girl's face.

"What's the matter?" Maddie asked her gently.

"I just realized, I don't know how to say good-bye to Scott," she miserably said, before burying her head in her knees.

"Mom," Sarah started to say, but then stopped herself. Her mom turned around to face her. After their conversation earlier that day, her mom had set about to making dinner and not really paying attention to her daughter. But, now, her mom was looking at her with gentle eyes.

"Sarah, sweetheart," her mom said, taking her daughter's hand, "I know something is seriously wrong with you. You've lost so much of that perkiness that you and your aunt share. Please, tell me."

Sarah smiled at her mom, "I want to tell you mom, I really do. I just don't know how. And I don't want you to overreact."

"I'm the calm one of the family, remember?" she teased her daughter.

"I know," Sarah sighed, "but this is just too hard for me."

"I understand," her mom shook her head, "but is there anything I can do for you?"

Sarah thought for a second, and then remembered the form she had gotten at the clinic and knew now that her mom would sign it without asking any questions.

"Mom …," Sarah said, "I … I have this form to see a community psychologist, and I was wondering if you could sign it for me."

"Honey," her mom embraced her, "if this is what you need, you should know that I will gladly sign it for you."

As soon as she was done hugging her mother, Sarah ran upstairs to get the form. It was definitely shaping up to be a good day. First, she had heard about Carlos actually getting punched by Vanessa, and then she finally got the signature she needed to really get through this.

"Craig!" Lainey shouted, running to give her brother a big hug.

"Hey little sis," he greeted, and then grinned at her other friends, "hey guys. How are you?"

"Good," Donny answered for all three of them, "ready to spend a week in your hometown? Your sister has an amazing party planned!"

"Doesn't she always?" Craig rolled his eyes, "so, I want to hear all these details about how you and demon child broke off the friendship."

"Craig!" Lainey protested, "she is not a demon child."

"Sure she's not," Craig winked at her. Lainey just smiled, her brother had never liked Rachelle much, "but I still want the juicy details."

"I thought girls were supposed to be gossips," Lainey teased Craig as the two started to walk off, with the other three following behind.

"Well, not in this case," Craig retaliated, "I always knew you and demon child were getting ready for a big knock-out, drag-down fight."

"We did not even have a big fight," Lainey said, "in fact, I'm going to try and make it up to her. I invited her to the party."

"You did what?" Craig asked, bewildered.

"I know, sounds weird," Lainey shrugged, "but I decided I did not want to move to a new town while leaving bad things here."

"You've really grown up kid," Craig smiled, putting his arm around his little sister.


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

"Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will."

-Birdee from Hope Floats

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dear Lainey,

I hear you have a big blow-out party planned for the end of the summer. So, I bet you probably know about Vanessa and Craig by now, right? Crazy isn't it? She is totally infatuated with him. And he is really into her. I'm sure you'll come around. She said that she was afraid that you would take it pretty bad. So, I just hope you'll see how happy they are around each other.

Truly and Forever,

Sarah

9999999999999999

As Lainey finished reading the letter her mouth began to form words that were not coming forth. She then turned to her brother, who was innocently playing a video game with Margaret's ten year old brother. Lainey did not understand why he hadn't told her that the girl he liked was Vanessa. How did he even know Vanessa? Had her parents made her hang out with him because he didn't know anybody? But that didn't sound like something Carmen would do. Craig finally noticed his sister's stunned gaze.

"What's the matter with you?" he quirked an eyebrow.

"You didn't tell me that the girl that you liked was Vanessa," Lainey blurted out. Way to be tactful, she mentally slapped herself. Usually she handled these kind of situations, the kind of situations where she had information on the person that they didn't know that she knew, in a lot better fashion.

"What?" he asked, bewildered, dropping the remote from his hand to give his full attention to his sister. She wordlessly handed him the letter, silently smirking at the shock that was written all over his face.

As he finished the letter he frowned and looked up at an expectant sister, waiting to hear what he had to say for himself, "It's lying. She doesn't like me like that."

"So you admit that you like her?" Lainey folded her arms, fixing him with a withering glare.

"Yeah," Craig shrugged, "it's not a big deal."

"I can't believe you would think this wasn't a big deal," Lainey shouted at him, "you are such a jerk sometimes!"

She quickly followed this statement with an effective stomp off into Margaret's room.

"And Vanessa thought that Lainey would take it bad," Craig shook his head to himself, laughing.

9999999

"I can't believe her."

"She shouldn't be allowed back in this school."

"How did that girl manage to beat up Carlos?"

The words, the gossip, and the sneers followed Vanessa down the hallway as she made her way to the newspaper room. Normally, the school would be empty during the summer, except for Seth trying to get a head start on his first edition newspaper, but cheerleading try-outs were taking place for the next couple of days, so Vanessa got to see the people that despised her most in the world since the whole Carlos thing. But, luckily for her, Vanessa found the whole situation amusing and just continued walking down the hallway until she reached the newspaper room and walked in to see a smirking Seth sitting behind his desk.

"I can tell that the school gossip vine is being as discreet as usual," he greeted, before going back to typing on his computer.

"Got any good letters for me?" Vanessa ignored his question as she sat down at her own computer, turning on the monitor. She looked up to see a very ashamed Seth looking in her direction.

"What is your problem?" she snapped at him.

"I've gotten about 87 letters, and about 60 of them call for your resignation," Seth guiltily held up a stack of letters, "they want me to fire you, or you to quit. And they don't use very nice terminology in them."

"Because I hit Carlos?" she groaned.

"Because you hit Carlos," he regretfully confirmed, "while you and I personally find that to be a very good thing, apparently half of the school didn't."

"And the other 27 letters?" she asked hopefully.

"There are about three good ones," he tossed her the three envelopes, "by the way, I'm not firing you, or making you quit."

"Thanks," she sarcastically said before tearing into the first envelope.

9999

The girls in the cabin were gathered in a circle, talking and laughing. Bailey sat between Maddie and Beth, silently wanting to cry inside. Tomorrow night they would have a big dance and then the next day all of the campers would leave. This had been the best summer of her life, the best time of her life. She had always said that she never needed friends, but now that she had them, she didn't know what she would do when she lost them. Tonight the girls in the cabin were having a bonding experience that the counselors had yet to bring forth.

"Okay, so this may sound kind of corny," the main counselor spoke up as she held up a big ball of string, "but what we're going to do is give this ball of string to one of the girls sitting in the circle and they will throw it to someone who has been a great friend to them this summer, and say something nice about them. And then that person will throw it to someone else and so on."

"You're right, it is corny," Beth smiled at her, "but I like it."

"Shannon, you're up first," the counselor instructed, tossing the ball to her. Shannon considered for a moment before throwing the ball to Bailey.

"Bailey, I spent the first part of my summer trying to make sure yours was miserable. But, you showed me kindness when everybody else laughed behind my back," Shannon smiled at her, "I would have to say you became my best friend at camp this year. Thank you."

Bailey gave Shannon a private smile before taking the string ball and throwing it to Maddie.

99999

Vanessa looked down at the letter in her hand and felt that there was something familiar about the situation described in it, but couldn't quite place it. As she began to type her solution, a slow dawning came upon her.

"Seth," she stated calmly. He looked up from his computer to see her looking at him with a smug look on her face.

"Yes?" he smoothly said.

"I know that you were the one who wrote this letter," Vanessa shook her head.

"I did no such thing," her friend said, startled.

"Right," she rolled her eyes, and began to read the letter aloud, "

"I should be insulted that you think I would write that," Seth rolled his eyes, "I have no problems telling girls how I feel about them."

"Yeah, except remember this one: Lisa, I, well, Lisa, I kind of was wondering if you would go out with me on Friday night," Vanessa recalled the time that Seth had asked out her other best friend.

"That experience crushed me for life," Seth shook his head, but then smiled back up at her, "but, I couldn't have wrote that anyways, because you are my best friend and you like Craig. Besides, I don't even know your cousin."

"You were writing it as if I would write it to you," Vanessa stuck her tongue out at him, "I think you don't give me enough credit for being intelligent."

"Actually, I do give you credit," he smiled, "Sarah was the one who came up with the plan. We figured that we would just change around a couple of the obvious details. Even though we both knew you would figure it out."

"Thanks," Vanessa shook her head, "now, if you don't mind. I have to figure out a way to tell Craig I like him since I just gave myself advice on how to."

As Vanessa left the room, Seth went over to her computer to save her work and turn it off and laughed as he read her response to the letter.

Dear in Love,

If this person really likes you back like you say she does, then there should not be any major problems. Her cousin should only want her to be happy, and if dating you makes her happy, then he should accept that. And as for it causing major tension between families, the families will probably be ecstatic if you they are really close. So, here's my steps for you. First, take a deep breathe and reflect on all the reasons why you like this girl. Second, tell yourself that if you guys have been friends for awhile, it should be easier to talk to this person. Thirdly, you know that she likes you, so it should be easier, but if you just have to blurt it out instead of making some big long speech like in movies, that's okay.

"Where'd she go?" Seth heard behind him and turned around to see a smiling Sarah standing in the doorway. She was dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt.

"So, I see you are trying out for cheerleading," Seth commented, ignoring her question.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes, and then jokingly added, "you can't expect me to hang out with you losers all year can you?"

"And the snobby side comes out," Seth rolled his eyes before going back to his desk.

"So," Sarah said, sitting at one of the newspaper officers desk that was close to Seth's, "she's getting herself prepared to tell Craig she likes him, isn't she?"

Seth nodded, not bothering to look up from his computer. Sarah bit her lip, unsure if she should continue. She had thought that Seth had liked Vanessa the night that Vanessa had run away, but they hadn't talked about it since and he seemed bent on helping her tell Craig how she felt. Sarah didn't know if this was because he was her best friend and wanted to see her happy either way, or if it was because he didn't have any feelings for her at all and knew Craig would make her happy. So, she wisely decided to keep her mouth shut about the whole thing.

999999

Bailey and Maddie were getting ready for bed after their "web of friendship" that had been filled with lots of tears and heartfelt moments when Maddie turned to Bailey.

"So, have you figured out how your going to say good-bye to Scott?" Maddie questioned.

"No, I've never had to say a good-bye like that before," Bailey shook her head, "I've never even been on a date, what am I supposed to do?"

"Are you guys going to continue to date after this summer?" Maddie asked.

"I don't know," Bailey admitted, "we haven't really talked about it. I would really like to continue dating him, but I can't expect him to stay with someone who lives 300 miles away."

"It would be hard," Maddie agreed, "but you guys could make it work. If anyone could, you guys could."

"Thanks," Bailey smiled, "I guess I'm just nervous because once I leave here, I'm going back to being nobody. I made good friends here, a good boyfriend, and even turned an enemy into a friend."

Bailey looked away after first voicing her concerns that had been plaguing her for the last couple of days. She didn't know if she could handle not having friends anymore.  
"You will always have us," Maddie encouraged her, "besides, what about those girls that your mom wants you to be friends with? Surely they can't be that bad."

"No, but I don't want to have to force them to be friends with me," Bailey shook her head, "I don't know. I think I'm still too emotional from the yarn deal, I'll sleep on it and I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow."

Maddie watched her friend head towards her bed and felt dejected, she didn't know how to make Bailey feel better.


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

__

"One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds."

-Mahatma Gandhi

Chapter Twenty-Four

__

Dear Sarah,

So, our summer is drawing to an end and we will all be meeting back up soon. I got a phone call from Lainey today telling me about Vanessa and Craig. I hope that she won't make too big of a deal out of it. It could be very interesting to watch those two butt heads. Well, I better be going, but I will see you at the end of summer thing.

Bye,

Bailey

99999

Lainey looked around at her party to see her brother standing against a wall, looking bored. The whole subject of Vanessa hadn't really come up at all since she had found out a couple days earlier. Judging by the look that was on his face most of the time, he was very disappointed and sad that his relationship with Vanessa had not turned out to be more than friendship. However, Lainey was sure that Vanessa must have feelings for him, if Sarah seemed to think so. She bit her lip, wanting to go talk to him, but not really sure if it was the best time to bring it up.

"Hey," she heard behind her. She turned around to see a smiling Marcus. She had seen him and Rachelle walk through the door earlier that night and had given them a small wave, but had not said anything to them.

"Hi," she cautiously said, looking around for his girlfriend.

"She's not with me," Marcus informed her, as if knowing who she was looking for.

"And why not?" Lainey quirked an eyebrow, "I thought she would never leave your side."

"I thought you were the one who told us to keep the drama on hold," Marcus shook his head, laughing a little to himself.

"Sorry," Lainey muttered, "So, what exactly do you want?"

"I haven't talked to you much this summer, and I wanted to apologize about the way I behaved," Marcus informed her.

8888

"Hey," Bailey softly greeted Scott as he sat down next to her at breakfast. The whole camp was talking about the dance tonight, and about leaving tomorrow. Pretty much everybody was upset about the summer being over so soon, but Bailey and Scott hadn't really mentioned the end of summer in their recent talks.

"Hey," he said back, grabbing a piece of bacon off of her plate and stuffing it in his mouth.

"What are you doing?" she giggled, swatting his arms. Just then, Bailey noticed that not only were all of her friends looking at them, but most of the Scott's friends were looking at the couple too.

"Can we talk?" Scott asked her, leading her out of the mess hall and sitting her down on a bench outside of it, "so …,"

"What are we going to do?" Bailey blurted out, facing him, "I mean, after this summer."

"I don't know," Scott said, uncomfortably, "last year, Shannon just decided we were going to stay together, so we did, but, I don't know … what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Bailey admitted, "part of me doesn't want to leave it like this. But, you live in an entirely different state than I do, could it really work at all?"

Scott seemed to deliberate on this point for a moment before pulling Bailey into his arms and kissing her gently on the forehead.

"You know what," he whispered to her, "let's just see were it goes … we can still date for now, and if anything comes up, we'll just let it go."

"Besides," Bailey smiled as she settled herself into his arms, "there is always next summer."

8888

Sarah sat down in the counselor's office, debating whether or not to just run back out. Last session had gone well, and at the end of it she had blurted out about the rape before practically sprinting out of the office and back to her house. She didn't know what the counselor was going to say, and wasn't sure that she wanted to be around for her reaction. But, she had shown back up today, and was curious as to what the counselor was going to say.

"Hello Sarah," the counselor smiled as she walked through the door and took her seat, "how are you doing today?"

"Fine," Sarah muttered, looking at the floor.  
"So, you left in quite a hurry the other day," she brought up, "and after dropping such a big bombshell."

"Sorry," Sarah looked guiltily up at her.

"Not a big deal," the counselor waved her hand around, "it just brings an interesting question to my mind. How many people have you exactly told about this?"

"I haven't really told anybody besides you," Sarah admitted to her, "I mean, two people kind of just figured it out."

"Figured it out?" the counselor asked, curious, "and how exactly did they find out?"

"Apparently this guy did the same thing to another girl, and she told people, but hardly anybody in the school believed her," Sarah started, and recapped the whole story about Seth and Vanessa finding out about her own rape.

The counselor sat in silence listening, contemplating, before gently asking, "do you feel like telling me about the night it happened?"

Sarah closed her eyes as tears began to spring up in them. She had relived that night so many times, it was like it hadn't happened just once, like she had been raped over and over again. She had never given many details to anybody, not even Vanessa about the whole thing. She wasn't too sure that she could say anything now, she felt as if her throat was contracting so she couldn't speak.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," the counselor brought her out of her daze, "we can talk about it when you're ready."

Sarah just nodded, knowing she couldn't trust herself to speak at all.

99999

Vanessa hummed as she was getting ready for work that day. She had thought about several ways in which she could tell Craig about she liked him. She knew that in her advice she had told the person that if they couldn't make a movie-style speech of love, then they could just let the words fall out.

But, being the writer that she was, Vanessa just couldn't imagine herself just throwing the words out there. She had always thought that when it came to someone that she cared for, a lot, she would have something really poetic to say. She could think of how much she cared for Craig, but couldn't quite find words to say it And, right now, the only things that kept coming to her mind were the speeches from movies.

"Stupid movies," Vanessa grinned, "give you all the wrong ideas about love."

Even though she hadn't quite figured out the way she was going to tell him, Vanessa was happier than usual because she knew she was going to tell him.

"Hey honey," her mom said as she bounded down the stairs, all dressed in her work uniform.

"Hey mom," Vanessa smiled at her. Things had been getting back on track with her family as well. They actually had held family dinners, went bowling one night, and just generally tried to set more time aside for each other.

"So, when does Craig get back?" Carmen innocently asked. The two of them had never officially talked about Vanessa and Craig and the kind of relationship they had, or could possibly have, but Carmen knew that her daughter had feelings for the son of one of her best friends.

"In a couple of days," Vanessa said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Carmen just smiled at her daughter, causing the teenage girl to grin back.

8888888

"Are you talking to my boyfriend again?" Rachelle demanded as she marched over to Marcus and Lainey. Lainey was still speechless about Marcus saying he was sorry and didn't immediately answer.

"Yeah, she is," Marcus shrugged, pulling Rachelle close to him, "doesn't want to ever leave me alone, does she?"  
"What?" Lainey asked, mouth hanging open. She couldn't believe this. Five seconds ago, Marcus had been apologizing, now, well, now he was definitely making up false things to tell Rachelle.

"I thought you learned your lesson about coming near MY boyfriend," Rachelle said, protectively, stressing the word my in her sentence so Lainey got the point.

"I thought we were leaving all the drama at home," Lainey snapped at Rachelle, looking around for an escape, anything to get away from this. And then, as if in answer to her request, somebody close to the window let out a shout.

"The police are coming!" the person yelled, pointing at four or five police cars pulling up to the house.

999999

"I … I can't be around guys anymore," Sarah managed to get out after a few seconds, "I mean, I can be, but if I'm ever alone with them, I feel as if they are going to hurt me. And even my other friends, Vanessa, whenever she is alone with a guy, I feel like she is going to get hurt. It's like I can't trust them anymore."

"And what about this guy who knows about the rape?" the counselor asked.

"I feel nervous around him too," Sarah admitted, "but, it also feels different, like I know I can trust him, but my body doesn't want me to. He is pretty understanding about it, I don't know. Does this mean I'll never be able to date again? If I can't even stand having guys touch my arm or something, how could I possibly date them?"

"I'm sure that eventually you will go back to being your old comfortable self around boys," the counselor tried to assure her, "you've already made a lot of progress if you don't get as uncomfortable around this boy you mentioned earlier."

Sarah nodded. She knew that what the counselor was telling her was true, a couple of weeks ago she wouldn't have been able to hang out with Seth in the computer room between her cheerleading try-outs like she had done for the last several days. But, another thing kept coming to Sarah's mind. She seemed fine whenever she didn't have to see Carlos, but the time that she had seen him after the incident had happened, she had been even more frightened of him than ever. Maybe it was because she now knew what he was capable of. Sarah started to open her mouth, but thought better of it and just listen to the counselor list off several tactics to help her feel more comfortable.

999999

Lainey looked down the line of people sitting in the police station. There were about fifteen of them in total, including all eight of the members from her group of friends, and her brother. They had been taken down here for breaking and entering a house that had been vacated. Lainey could hear laughter raising up in her as the police explained that a neighbor had called to say that the family that lived in the house had moved out earlier that summer. Now the police officers were taking names and phone numbers of all the kids who hadn't been able to escape the house before the police got in and were planning on calling all of the parents. They were also going to call the people who lived in the house that had just recently moved out to see what exactly they wanted to do with the troublesome teenagers. Lainey couldn't help but have a tiny smile on her face as she thought of the look on the face of the police officers when she told them that the phone number of the previous owners was also her own phone number.

"I can't believe you would do that!" Bridget yelled at her daughter fifteen minutes later when they were on the phone, there was no trace of smile on Lainey's face as her mom continued to yell, "you are coming home tomorrow morning at ten a.m.. I trusted you down there! Tell your brother the same thing …"

The yelling continued on for a few more seconds, before the police officer made them hang up and then Lainey turned to Craig, filled him in on the conversation with their mom and finally said, "you should ask Vanessa out."

"Why she doesn't like me," Craig grumbled, obviously still in a bad mood from being in a police station.

"If Sarah thinks she likes you, she probably likes you," Lainey informed him, "and this is me saying okay to the whole thing. You might not get a second chance."


	26. Chapter TwentyFive

__

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

-Abraham Lincoln

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lainey was just hugging Margaret good-bye when the doorbell rang. Lainey glanced at the clock, knowing that it was still very, very early and wondering who could possibly be coming around at this hour of the morning. Margaret shrugged, obviously feeling the same way she did and went and opened the door.

"What do you want?" Lainey asked the person standing at the door. Rachelle, biting her lip very nervously came in and stood uncomfortably in the foyer.

"I came to say bye," Rachelle muttered, sounding relieved that she had been able to finish it.

"Glad to see me go, are you?" Lainey asked her coldly.

"No," Rachelle tried to defend herself, but failed miserably as she noticed the look of stern dislike on Lainey's friendship.

"Whatever," Lainey rolled her eyes, but softened them, "I am pretty sure I won't be seeing you around, even if I do come. I think it's for the best."

Rachelle nodded her agreement as Craig came out of the back room, carrying his and Lainey's luggage. Lainey followed her brother through the door and then turned around before leaving.

"Our friendship was never going to work out, was it?" Lainey asked Rachelle with a defeated tone in her voice, "even if I would have stayed."

Rachelle opened her mouth as if to protest, but then thought better of it and instead nodded again.

"I'm sorry," she finally managed to mutter, "I really always considered you the best friend I ever had."

"Me too," Lainey shook her head, "me too."

888888

Bailey scooted closer into Scott's arm as the last song of the night drifted onto the dance floor. She closed her eyes, pretending that tomorrow was not the end, that the summer was not going to be over.

"I'm going to miss you," Scott whispered to her, a hint of sadness lacing his tone

"Me too," she whispered back. Around them, all the camp couples were saying what were really their last good-byes, even though they would see each other tomorrow. Suddenly, Scott grabbed her arm and drug her out of the hall.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your cabin before I get in trouble for doing it," he urged. Bailey smiled, but followed him as he began the short walk towards her cabin.

"I'm really going to miss this place," Bailey smiled as she looked around.

"Last year, I was so bummed out about leaving, I almost cried," Scott admitted to her, wrapping his arm around her tighter.

"All of my tears were used up last night," Bailey shook her head in amusement.

"Oh well, it's a girl thing for you to cry like that," Scott joked around, as they reached Bailey's cabin.

Bailey did not even respond to Scott's assumption that crying was a girl thing and just leaned into him, wanting to savor as much time with him as possible. Scott also seemed to understand the importance of the moment. This was probably the most alone they were going to be all summer, and tomorrow's good-byes wouldn't even compare with what could be said tonight.

"You are one fantastic girl," Scott muttered to her, kissing her forehead, and then her nose before finally kissing her lips, "if you seriously think that you won't make any friends next year, you are mental. Or else, all those people are stupid."

"You are one charming guy," Bailey retaliated, kissing Scott again, "I'm really going to miss you."

"I know," Scott breathed, holding her in the hug a little longer before they heard voices coming from the direction of the dance hall and he hastily let go, "I have to get back to the cabin."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Bailey smiled, giving Scott a kiss on the cheek, "bye."

"Bye," Scott grinned, before walking off towards his cabin as the girls drew closer.

88888888888

Vanessa paced in her living room, the television set was on, but she wasn't paying any attention to what was on it. She was thinking the whole thing with Craig through. Why hadn't he called her while he'd been gone? Was it because he was upset that she didn't feel the same way? Was it because he was having too much fun? Was it because he'd found someone else who would be closer to where he was? She heard the doorbell ring and didn't bother to answer it.

It wasn't until the ringing of the doorbell became annoying did Vanessa finally decide to go answer it. She assumed that it was probably Seth or Sarah, wanting to talk to her.

"What in the world do you want?" she demanded to know as she swung her door open.

"To talk to you," the person on the other side of the door answered.  
"Craig!" Vanessa exclaimed, opening the door more to let him in, "I thought you weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."

"We got busted at the party," Craig laughed, "so, my parents made us come home immediately, and then they gave us this big long talk about responsibility. But, since I'm going to college, they can't exactly ground me, so here I am."

Vanessa couldn't help but smile at the story, "how was your trip?"

"Interesting," Craig stated, looking around uncomfortably, "um, Lainey knows that I like you, and she seems to be under the mistaken impression that you might feel the same way."

"How did she find out?" Vanessa asked, curious.

"Sarah," he smiled.

"Huh," Vanessa said, unable to say anymore. She knew that she had to tell Craig now, but like last time, she was freezing up.

"So," Craig said, obviously starting to regret his trip here, "I guess if there's nothing more to say …,"

"Wait!" Vanessa suddenly stopped him before he could leave, "Lainey wasn't exactly mistaken when she said that I like you too."

"Really?" Craig quirked an eyebrow at the girl, although a smile began to appear on his lips.

"Yeah," Vanessa bit her lip and hurried up her voice, "I mean, you were there for me all summer, how could I not like you?"

Before she knew what was happening, Craig had grabbed her up in a big hug and twirled her around the room before setting her down.

"So," Craig began, "do you want to go out on a date tonight?"

"On one condition," Vanessa smiled mischievously.

"Sure, what?" Craig asked, a look of puzzlement coming across his face.

"We have to get sno cones," Vanessa laughed, "because you know, they make everything better."

Craig just laughed before telling her he would pick her up at seven and then walking out the door. As soon as she knew Craig was hearing distance from her home, Vanessa squealed, an uncharacteristically girly thing for her to do. She finally had a date with Craig!

99999999

__

"Do you feel like talking about the night it happened?"

"How many people have you exactly told about this?"

Sarah's mind swirled with the questions. The first one just brought back memories of her nightmare, but the second one, it kind of scared her. Because, looking back on it, besides blurting it out to the counselor, she hadn't told anybody about that night. She had thought she was getting better, but was she ashamed of what had happened that night? So ashamed she couldn't tell anybody.

Of course, she did not want to tell everybody, she just wanted to be able to tell her mom, her dad, and just anybody she was close to. Does this mean that she still blamed herself for the whole thing? Sarah's mind continued to contemplate these thoughts when she heard her phone ring and absentmindedly picked it up.

On the other end, Vanessa's voice flooded in with excitement, telling her all about her date tonight. Sarah tried to sound happy for her friend, but her mind continued to be stuck on her counseling session from yesterday, finally Vanessa must have noticed something was wrong, because she finally stopped talking about her date.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa hesitantly asked Sarah, "do you need to talk?"

"I'm fine," Sarah said dully, knowing that Vanessa didn't believe her, she didn't even believe herself.

99999999

Bailey smiled as she waited for the bus to take her back to the airport. Scott, and most of her friends had already left on an earlier bus because their planes left earlier. Jennifer, Maddie, Beth, and her had said very tearful good-byes, promising to write to each other and stay in touch. Scott and herself, who had already said most of their good-byes the night before, had just given each one final hug and quick kiss, each holding back tears, before he climbed onto the bus.

Normally, Bailey would have found it an odd thing that she was smiling when she was about to leave the camp that had meant so much to her. She couldn't help but think of the good times and the laughs that she had here.

"Hey Bailey," a voice spoke up beside her. She glanced sideways to see Shannon standing next to her. Shannon was catching the same bus as Bailey, and while neither had actually said good-bye to the other yet, Bailey knew that one of the things she felt most proud of this summer was being able to say that she actually made friends with Shannon.

"Shannon, how are you?" Bailey smiled at the girl.

"Been better," Shannon wrinkled her nose, "plane rides always get me down. Especially the one after camp. Last summer I was in such a bad mood on the trip home, I think I actually yelled at several old people."

Bailey laughed, before putting on a shocked face, "but, you've always been so sweet."

"I meant what I said the other night," Shannon said suddenly, the two girls had also never talked about what had been said at the circle the other night, "I hope we can stay in touch over the school year.

"I think I would be disappointed if we didn't," Bailey smirked, giving Shannon a hug, "you were the last person I expected to be friends with this summer."

"Because you were infatuated with my boyfriend," Shannon said, fake disgruntled ness evident her voice.

"Nah, because you were a witch," Bailey retaliated. Just then, their bus pulled up and they started loading their luggage in the back, before climbing on the bus to start the journey to the airport, Bailey looked back at Shannon and said, "but, you know, I'm glad we did become friends."

99999999

Vanessa and Craig were sitting up at the sno cone stand, enjoying what was sure to be one of their last sno cones for the summer. Vanessa smiled as she remembered the first sno cone she had gotten with Craig.

"You know," Craig mused, entangling his fingers with Vanessa's, "this isn't that much different than the hanging out we've been doing all summer."

"It feels different," Vanessa insisted, "I mean, I guess just being here and actually _knowing _you like me makes a difference."

"True," Craig smiled, a sparkle in his eyes, as he drew her closer to him, "and that gives me the power to do this."

Craig leaned into her and gave her a short, sweet kiss. The awkwardness of that kiss just made it all the more sweet for the couple.

"You know, I liked you the first moment I met you when you asked me to pretend to be your girlfriend," Vanessa admitted, "I don't think I told myself the truth until you helped me with the whole adoption thing."

"I think I first liked you when you couldn't stop laughing from the look on Susie's face," Craig recalled the night they had first met, "but, I don't think I realized how much I liked you until you ran away from your parents."

"We don't have much time until you leave for college," Vanessa bit her lip, a nervous habit she had.

"But we can make the most of the time we do have," Craig reassured her, giving her another small kiss.


	27. Chapter TwentySix

Author's Note: Okay, so this is the last chapter of this story. I think I am going to write a sequel to make their second summer of the sisterhood, so be on the look-out.

_"Be great in act, as you have been in thought."_

_-William Shakespeare _

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Good morning," Tibby greeted her daughter as the sixteen-year old girl walked down the stairs on her first day back from her summer vacation.

"Morning mom," Bailey grunted, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet and pouring herself a bowl of cereal. She then sat down at the table across from her mom, who was watching her with an amused expression on her face.

"You didn't really say much about camp last night," Tibby said casually, when Bailey didn't reply to this statement, Tibby added, "and you did not call home every day asking to come back home."

"I also did not write home saying I was having a wonderful time," Bailey reminded her.

"But you wanted to, your pride got in the way of admitting I did a good thing by sending you to that camp," Tibby smiled at her daughter, "you don't have to admit it, I know its true. I don't think I've ever seen you happier than I saw you yesterday. I'm glad you had a good time this summer."

Bailey looked down in her bowl of cereal before smiling up at her mom, "I'm glad I went Mom. Thanks for signing me up."

"You're a special girl," Tibby smiled at her daughter, "and I wouldn't have sent you there if I hadn't have thought it would do you good. So, anything that you'd like to share about your summer?"

"Well," Bailey's face broke out into an even wider grin, "I met a guy."

999

Lainey sat down at the breakfast table, receiving a cold look from her mother.

"Hi mom," Lainey greeted, the awkward silence killing her. Bridget did not reply, just grabbed another cup of coffee, "mom, I know I made a mistake …,"

"A mistake?" Bridget narrowed her eyes, raising her voice slightly, "you were on your way to jail. Do you know how embarrassing it was to have to explain to those police officers that we were not in fact being intruded upon, but that our teenager daughter and soon to be college student son were irresponsible enough to throw a party? Craig has made mistakes in his life. But, why do all of your mistakes always seem to someway involve your best friend Rachelle?"

"We're not friends anymore," Lainey murmured, "I invited her to the party to patch things up, I spent most of the summer at Margaret's house."

"And you didn't tell me this?" Bridget asked, sitting down.

"I'm sorry mom, it was just a big mess," Lainey rushed through the words, "I wanted to tell you so bad, but I knew you never approved of Rachelle, so I thought you would just tell me that you were right, like always. And I know that it was stupid, what if I would have got hurt? What if something had happened to me, you didn't know I was at Margaret's house."

Bridget looked at her daughter, and noticing the unhappy expression on her face, knew that she must have already learned her lesson, and had been yelled at enough, so with a sigh, Bridget said, "I love you honey."

"I love you too mom," Lainey said, getting up and hugging her mom.

9999

Sarah hummed as she walked down the stairs into the living room, where her mother had her art work spread across the table.

"Mom, these are great," Sarah flipped through some that were close to her. Lena gave her daughter a serene smile, Sarah noticed a drawing of herself amidst the pile. She took out the drawing and saw how her mother was able to capture so many of her emotions. It seemed to be a couple of days after the Carlos fiasco, because her mom had drawn a look of hurt, a look of pain, and a look of sadness on her face that Sarah knew she had been experiencing at the time, but didn't know that she had shown, she tentatively said, "mom?"

"Yes honey?" her mom asked, giving her daughter her undivided attention.

"Did I really look this sorrowful?" Sarah asked, sorrowful being the only word that could come to her mind.

"Why do you think I worried about you so much?" Lena shook her head, "usually, drawings help me see emotions that I would not otherwise see. You're my daughter, I don't want to see you in so much pain."

"Mom," Sarah said, tears cascading down her face, "Carlos … he didn't just dump me. Well, mom, he … he …,"

"Honey, you don't have to say it if you don't want to," Lena said quietly, but her eyes filling with anger as she had already guessed what her daughter was going to say.

"I think I need to," Sarah choked out, "he … raped me."

"Oh honey," Lena said, taking her daughter into her arms as both women let their tears fall freely.

9999

"I'm off to work," Vanessa called to her mom as she was about to walk out the door.

"Hold on babe," her mom called to her, coming out of her room, "what's this I here about you dating a certain boy who happens to be the son of one of my best friends?"

"I was going to tell you about that," Vanessa smiled, "right now in fact, and it was going to be exactly like this, 'Mom, I'm going out with Craig. He's a great guy. You already know him so you don't have to meet him.'"

Carmen shook her head in amusement, "a lot changed this summer. We would have never been able to talk like this last year."

"I know mom," Vanessa grinned, "I'm glad I found out I was adopted. It brought us closer together as a family."

"There is a reason you are on the paper," Carmen smiled, hugging her daughter, "you are a level-headed girl. And I'm glad you are my daughter. But, understand, considering the fact that you are dating my best friend's son, I have even more reason to stick my nose into this relationship."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Vanessa sighed, but her smile didn't waver, "and I'm okay with that."

99999

Lainey opened her front door to see Bailey standing on the other side, smiling at her.

"Grounded huh?" Bailey inquired, "no going out? No telephone? No e-mailing? No life?"

"Pretty much," Lainey sighed, "but I deserve every last second of it."

"Oh, so you wouldn't want a few hours off of your grounding to go watch a movie with me?" Bailey said flippantly.

"Are you kidding?" Lainey said, excitement rising up in her voice, "my mom is actually letting me go out?"

"I think she knows tonight is the night," Bailey smiled, "and since you were the last with the pants, its only fair you have to be there."

"I'll be ready in ten minutes," Lainey said, dressed only in her sweats and a t-shirt, "I want to hear all about your summer and whatever happened with that gorgeous guy."

"And I want to hear about how exactly you managed to get arrested," Bailey shouted at Lainey's retreating figure going up the stairs.

True to her word, ten minutes later the two girls headed out of Lainey's house, the jeans in tow and towards the nearest coffee shop.

"Is it weird that we're doing this?" Lainey asked as they sat down at a table, "we've never hung out on our own without parental forcing, and we talk once over the summer, and we're automatically friends?"

"The magic of the pants," Bailey stated simply, then she launched into a story about her summer, Lainey asking questions every few sentences, knowing her time for story telling was next.

9999

"I told my mom," Sarah whispered to Vanessa as the two girls, Craig, and Seth were having one final snow cone of the summer.

"I'm so proud of you," Vanessa whispered back, giving her a hug, "I can't believe the summer is almost over. Just think, plenty of new guys in the next week or so."

"I know," Sarah smiled, "how are things going between you and Craig?"

"Okay," Vanessa shrugged, "it's hard to think that I spent the whole summer with him and now I have to give him up for a year."

"We'll be fine," Sarah assured her, "we'll always have each other at any rate."

"Isn't it weird to think that at the beginning of the summer we couldn't even stand each other?" Vanessa laughed. The two boys, who had been deeply immersed in a conversation about soccer, looked up at the sound of Vanessa's laugh.

"Are you two okay?" Craig quirked his eyebrow at his girlfriend and friend.

"Dude, the first rule to handling girls, never ask them if they are okay, just pretend nothing odd happened," Seth stage whispered to him.

"Shut up Seth!" both girls shouted, flinging some of their snow cones at the boy. Craig laughed at the boy who now had snow cone all over him.

"You think that's funny?" Sarah laughed, followed by her and Vanessa flinging their snow cones on him too. A few seconds later, a snow cone fight ensued.

9999

Bailey and Lainey were the first to arrive, breaking into the building just as their mom's had done so many years before. They had spent the last couple of hours catching up on each others summers and generally having a good laugh.

Ten minutes later, Sarah and Vanessa walked through the door, also having a good laugh, but also looking extremely messy and feeling very sticky. Their snow cone fight had gone on for a good thirty minutes before the owner made them leave the stand.

As the four girls sat in a circle, the divide was made even more evident. Lainey and Bailey forming one semi-circle and Sarah and Vanessa forming another. The bonds of friendship produced by the pants had only gone so far in bringing the girls together for the summer. But, as they looked at each other they knew that a great deal of growth had gone on during this summer.

Lainey, the oldest of the four, had started the summer as someone who had known that she was going to miss her best friend from home like crazy. She was someone who knew that she had to tell a guy how she felt. Now, well, now Lainey was somebody who had moved her home from not only one location to the next, but from one person the next. She had left behind a friendship filled with deceit and shallowness to form great, lasting bonds of friendship.

Bailey, the second oldest, had expected the summer to be dull and boring like every other moment of her life. She had expected to hate camp, to hate the people there, and come back even hating herself. Like Lainey, she had formed great, lasting bonds of friendship, but unlike Lainey, they seemed to be the first friends Bailey had ever had. She had known starting a new school would be full of new experiences, she hadn't expected them to be that different from the old. But she now felt as if she was ready for the trials of a new school year.

Sarah, the next to youngest, had only one thing on her mind at the beginning of the summer: popularity. She wanted to meet the popular kids, become their friends, date them, and hopefully would not have to work too hard at popularity at the beginning of the school year. Lainey and Bailey, while not knowing exactly the details, noticed Sarah's shift from a happy, shallow person to a solemn, somewhat lonely-looking person. She had started a whole new life, but unlike the other two, she did not know if it was something she wanted.

Vanessa, the youngest of the four, had one differentiating factor of the other three at the beginning of the summer, she was not going to be starting a new school in the fall. Still, the summer had thrown her some curveballs, taking her from a solidly laid foundation of beliefs and maturity to an adolescent who experienced love for the first time and found out the meaning of a true family.

The four girls smiled at each other as they began to encrypt their memories of the summer on the pants, sharing stories, and finally, each girl knew that at least some part of the friendship their mothers had wanted them to build had started this summer, their first summer with the pants.


End file.
